46 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



hill plat, or an average of $16.28 per acre for tilling the 3 plats, whereas mowing 

 on the 3 sod plats averaged only 72 cts. per acre. 



No analyses were made of the soil in these plats at the hegiuniug of the ex- 

 periment, but analyses made at the end of the 10-year period indicate that 

 tillage has tended to dei)lete the soil of humus and nitrogen more than is good 

 for apple land. These results, combined with the author's observations in 

 recent years, led to the conclusion that cover crops alone in many cases are 

 not sufficient to supply tilled orchards with humus and nitrogen, and that the 

 deficiency must be made up by an occasional application of stable manure, or 

 by occasionally keeping the orchard in clover sod for a season. 



The author attributes the sui:)eriority of the sod-mulch method in the hill 

 sections of the Hitchings orchard to the existence of a deep soil and hillside 

 seepage which furnishes an abundance of moisture for both trees and grass. 

 Summing up these investigations as a whole tillage is believed to be unques- 

 tionably the best method of caring for the majority of the apple orchards in 

 New York. On the other hand, the Hitchings method of sod-mulching apple trees 

 may be used advantageously in steep hillside orchards inclined to wash badly 

 under tillage, on land which is too rocky to be readily tilled, on soils having 

 considerable depth and retentive of moisture, and under certain economic 

 conditions under which it seems desirable to make a larger acreage in sod 

 counterbalance a greater productiveness under tillage, thereby bringing the net 

 income to the same level. 



Sod mulch sometimes a success, F. H. Hall {New York State Sta. Bui. 375 

 (IDUi), popular vd., pp. 3-8). — A popular edition of the above. 



Ten years' profits from an apple orchard, U. P. Hedrick (\eiv York State 

 Sta. Bui. 376 (IBlJi), pp. 81-90, pL 1). — The author here presents data on the 

 cost of various operations, yields, and selling prices for a period of 10 years 

 for an orchard in which the station has carried on a comparative test of sod 

 mulch and tillage (E. S. R., 21, p. 238). The data, as far as possible, are given 

 for three units, the barrel of apples, the tree, and the acre. 



Summarizing the results for the whole period, the average annual yield of the 

 orchard has been 79.2 bbl. of firsts and seconds per acre and 37.0 bbl. of culls or 

 cider stock per acre. The firsts and seconds cost $1.29 to produce and sold for 

 $2.00, leaving a profit of $1.31 i>er barrel or $103.40 per acre. There was a loss 

 of $7.89 per acre on the culls, making the average net profit per acre $95.60. 

 The author points out that the cost of production is somewhat high, since the 

 State can not do work as cheaply as an individual. On the other hand, the 

 extra cost has been offset by the good condition of the orchard at the end of 

 the experiment. It is believed that the profits are much greater than those 

 from the average plantation in New York. 



Wholesale prices of apples and receipts of apples in New York City for 

 twenty years, H. B. Knapp {New York Cornell Sta. Cire. 22 {191 Ji), pp. 13- 

 19). — This comprises a statistical study of receipts and wholesale prices of 

 apples during the 20-year period 1893-1913. The receipts are shown for each 

 year and month. The average prices are given by years and months and also 

 the average prices of different varieties of apples. A comparison is made of 

 the rise in price with the changes in price of other products. 



In the last 10 years apples show an increase in price of 9^ per cent as com- 

 pared with the previous 10 years. In the same period the price of cotton has 

 increased 64 per cent, corn 42 per cent, hay 33 per cent, oats 38 per cent, po- 

 tatoes 28 per cent, and ^vheat 37 per cent. 



Our best German varieties of fruits. — I, Apples {Unscre besten deutschen 

 Ohstfiortcu. Band J: Aepfel. Wiesbaden [191^], pp. 1ft, pis. .^i).— This is the 

 first of a 3-volume series describing the more important orchard fruits of Ger- 



