246 



ANNUAL llEl'OUT OF TlllO 



Off. Doe. 



Table X shows the elTect of manures in both young and old 

 orchards on color and size of fruit and on growth of trees. The 

 ett'ects have been fairly distinct in all cases, — reducing the color with 

 one exception; and apparently increasing size of fruit and tree- 

 growth.* In all cases, the color is least on the plots receiving 

 stable manure. In the old orchard, manure shows some advantage 

 over commercial fertilizer in wood growth and in size of apples, 

 with effects reversed in the young orchards. The greater effect of 

 commercial fertilizer in the young orchards is probably connected 

 with the smaller area over which it is distributed, thus giving rela- 

 tively stronger applications. 



The above data are obtained from extensive work through a short 

 period. In Table XI, we have data from the reverse conditions, — 

 one experiment continued over twenty-one years. 



TABLE XI 



Massachusetts Experiment on Apples, 1889-1910 f 



Treatments and Total Yields per Acre, to Date 



Ave. girth, .. 

 Ratios, 



Yields, lb., .- 

 Ratios, 



Color and size. 



37.02 in. 

 132.3 



21,863 

 554.9 



These results are similar to those recorded in the preceding tables 

 with the differences in some cases even more distinct. In every 

 respect the treated plots have proved superior to the untreated. 

 The manure plot, which alone receives nitrogen in quantity, leads 

 in yield and growth but falls next to the check in quality. It is 

 closely followed in yield and growth and much surpassed in quality 

 by Plot 5, which received ground bone and low grade sulfate of 

 potash. The superiority of 5 over 4 which differs only in the car- 

 rier of the potash is very interesting. Whether it is due to the 

 magnesia in the sulfate or to a harmful effect of the chlorine ac- 



*We say "apparently" increased the size of fruit, since the matter of size is undoubtedly pri- 

 marily dependent on soil moisture and number of fruits on the tree. Thus any fertilizer effect 

 must necessarily be indirect, as in the case of color. 



tData furnished by Director Wm. P. Brooks, of the Mass. Exp. Station, December, 1909. 



