ANNUAL REPORT OF THE 



Off. Doc. 



In our judgment, one of the most striking things shown in this 

 table is the difference in response to fertilizer made by the different 

 varieties. The Baldwin and R. I. Greening were practically unre- 

 sponsive, while the Spy and Roxbury show an annual average benefit 

 of nearly 125 bushels per acre. It did not pay to add fertilizer to 

 the Baldwin and Greening trees, while even at the low price of |1 

 a barrel the Spy and Roxbury returned a net profit of nearly 180 per 

 cent, on the cost of the fertilizer. This apparently indicates that 

 the value of a fertilizer may sometimes depend upon the variety 

 fertilized. But it should also be remembered that only phosphates 

 and potash were applied in this experiment, and it is stated else- 

 where in the report* that ^'leguminous cover crops plowed under 

 in the orchard have usually produced beneficial effects the same on 

 the next season," and that ''it needs nitrogen, or humus, or the physi- 

 cal condition to be obtained by plowing under organic matter." In 

 other words, nitrogen or humus is apparently the crop-limiter in this 

 orchard and until this need is met, little or no advantage can be gained 

 by applications of other forms of plant food. Hence, we conclude 

 that instead of being negative, the- least that can be said of this ex- 

 periment is that is it shows partial results from the application of 

 certain fertilizers. 



The third experiment is in Massachusetts, a preliminary report of 

 which has been kindly furnished us by Director Brooks. j- This ex- 

 periment has been running at the Massachusetts Station during 

 the last 30 years. The trees were planted one year after the ex- 

 periment was started and the plots contain three trees each of Bald- 

 win, R. I. Greening, Roxbury and Gravenstein, The soil is a "mod- 

 erately heavy, gravelly loam, with a moderately compact (clay) sub- 

 soil," and is reported to have been "highly exhausted, chiefly by the 

 production of hay, before the experiment started." The treatments 

 and results we have arranged as shown in Table 2: 



*Page 231, Bulletin No. 289, N. T., Geneva Station, 

 tijetter from Director Brooks, November 30, 1908. 



