No. 7. 



DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



529 



make it necessary to forget some of the methods found apjjlicable 

 to other crops, and they require that the whole problem be studied 

 from its foundation. 



In view of these difficulties, there is a very fair amount of experi- 

 mental evidence already at hand. Three valuable, long-time experi- 

 ments have been made. The first of these has been in operation 

 at the Woburn Experimental Fruit Farm in England, since 1894. 

 Up to the close of the 14th season, there had been almost total 

 absience of effect of manure of any kind. In a more recent test on 

 poorer, sandy soil, they leivoit that manures, and especially stable 

 manure, are having a very beneficial action.* The absence of ef- 

 fect in the longer experiment was explained by ''the fact that trees 

 draw their nourishment from a very large area, and from a very 

 considerable depth, ******** and, hence, are very little af- 

 fected by surface dressings."* This experiment is of value in show- 

 ing that orchards are limited by something other than manures 

 and fertilizers. It is also interesting in the fact that while the ex- 

 periment as a whole shows no results from manures, yet it is re- 

 ported that cetain July applications of nitrate of soda produced 

 distinct elTects. The applications of nitrogen in the regular experi- 

 ment were made in February. While this experiment undoubtedly 

 has the values indicated, yet its full application to our conditions is 

 somewhat inadvisable because of the marked difference in English 

 conditions, and the fact that the experiment is being conducted on 

 dwarf trees. 



The second, long-time experiment is the one made at the Geneva 

 Station, New York, and reported in 1907 by Professor Hedrick. 

 This gives the results of twelve years of annual applications of 

 potash and phosphate, at the rates of 169 lbs. K2 O, and 129 lbs. P2 05 

 per acre. The trees were 43 to 55 years old and the soil is a medium 

 heavy clay. The results as a whole were considered negative, since 

 the annual increase in yield of all varieties on the treated plots 

 barely paid the cost of the fertilizers and their application. 



The results in detail are shown in Table No. 1. The first three 

 lines of the table are taken from Professor Hedrick's report, page 

 225. The last three lines we have calculated from them, since the 

 trees were set 48 to the acre. 



TABLE No. 1. 

 New York Results. Potash and Phosphate Application. 12 Years. 



•Letter of Spencer U. Pickering, September, 1907. 



34—7—1908. 



