200 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



cut into two parts, each being moved to the rear and reconstructed into a 

 farm cottage. We now have two farm cottages in excellent condition and 

 practically finished except for the water and plumbing fixtures which are now 

 being installed. 



Much work has also been done in developing the landscape feature of the 

 grounds. The wagon shed, corncrib and other secondary farm buildings 

 have been moved making a more ideal and convenient arrangement. Much 

 work has been done in subduing the farm and developing it into a sightly 

 State experimental property. 



Since the last report we are happy to state that the State Board of Agricul- 

 ture has purchased an adjoining fifty acres of land making the Station now 

 one hundred acres in extent. The original fifty acres of this property includ- 

 ing the barn and cottages is now pretty well planted except that portion near 

 the rear boundary which is low ground and has not been cleared and developed. 

 All of the acreage adapted for fruit pla,nting on this division has been set to 

 trees and is now devoted to the following experimental projects: 



Project 1 : Young duchess apple orchard to test the relative value of alfalfa 

 sod mulch, grass sod mulch and cultivation with cover crops, in growing 

 orchards and their relative nitrogenous requirements. 



Project 2: A cultural project with young apple trees to compare the effect 

 of various systems of culture. In this project: 



Plat 1 is to be plowed early in the spring and clean cultivation will be given 

 until the cover crop is seeded again about July 20th. 



Plat 2 is to be kept in clover as continuously as possible. A mulch of straw 

 is to be kept around the trees as far out as the tips of the branches, and the 

 clover on this plat will be mowed for hay and removed. 



Plat 3 seeded to alfalfa with the trees mulched with straw as plat 2, and the 

 alfalfa cut and removed from the orchard. 



Plat 4 same as plat 3 except the first cutting each year of alfalfa will be 

 used for a mulch about the trees while the other cuttings are to be removed 

 from the plat. 



Plat 5 to be treated exactly as plat 4 except that this treatment is to be 

 supplemented by an application of nitrate of soda to the trees early in the 

 spring. 



The fundamental object of this test is to see if fruit growers can produce 

 young apple orchards by continued use of intervening spaces among the 

 trees for producing such crops as alfalfa, without proving deterimental to the 

 growth of the trees until they come into bearing. 



Projects: Apple training and pruning experiment. To ascertain the best 

 methods of pruning trees at planting time and each succeeding year. Six 

 standard varieties of trees were selected to plant in the spring of 1919, 20 feet 

 apart each way. The first row of each variety had the roots and tops pruned 

 heavily when set and were to be pruned during the dormant season each 

 succeeding year as commonly practiced. Row 2 of each variety was not 

 pruned at planting time except to reduce the scaffold limbs to at least five 

 and no pruning is to be done after setting until the trees come into bearing. 

 Row 3 of each variety had little pruning of the tops when set, the scaffold 

 limbs being reduced to five or less but with no heading back of the scaffold 

 limbs. These rows are to have a little pruning the first half of July. Row 

 4 of each variety had a little pruning of roots and tops when set with the scaf- 

 fold limbs reduced to five or less. These rows are to be pruned frequently 



