An Apple Orchard Survey of Ontario County 



197 



mercial fertilizer or green manure or both. Commercial fertilizer alone 

 is used to a very slight extent ; and, even in combination with other manures, 

 its use is not very general, amounting to only about 14 per cent. Wood 

 ashes, which are included under the head of commercial fertilizers, were 

 used in about one third of these orchards. Two thirds of this latter 

 group were treated with a combination of phosphoric acid and potash, 

 and less than one third with phosphoric acid alone. The usual rate at 

 which the fertilizer is applied is 500 pounds per acre, and it is generally 

 applied every year. 



Cover crops are used a little more extensively than commercial fer- 

 tilizers, and occur in all in about 16 per cent of the orchards. Of these, 

 about one third are sown to leguminous crops, one third to non-leguminous 

 crops, and one third to a combination of both. 



Relation of fertilizers to yield and income 



It pays to fertilize orchards. Those that were not fertilized (except 

 with small quantities of manure at rare intervals, or pastured to slight 

 extent) are far below the general average in yield and income, producing 

 on the average for four years 44 barrels per acre, and an income of $71.54. 

 (See Table 26.) Those to which stable manure was applied brought 

 returns slightly above the general average. That the averages in this 

 group do not run higher is due to including under this head all orchards 

 to which stable manure has been applied, except in quantities less than 

 five loads per acre, at rare intervals. Table 28 gives a much better idea 

 of the benefits to be gained by applying stable manure. From the data 

 at hand, it would appear that the combination of commercial fertilizer 

 with stable manure produces better results than using a cover crop and 

 stable manure, the yield of the former being 58 barrels and the income 

 $125.95 PPr acre, while that of the latter is 56.3 barrels, and $108.98 

 per acre. 



TABLE 26. Relation of Fertilizer to Yield and Income 



