New York Agricultural Experiment Station. 335 



treated sections kept in good condition. When the difference is 

 in favor of the treated sections the + sign is used but when it is 

 in favor of the untreated sections the — sign is used. 



Table IV. — Difference in Number of Days During Which Fruit Kept 

 IN Good Condition. 



Baldwin 



Fall Pippin 



Roxbiiry Russet 



R. I. Greening 



Northern Spy 



Tompkins King 



Esopns Spitzenburg. 

 Reinette Pippin 



— 3 



— 

 —16 



—28 

 + 1 

 —37 

 +10 

 —30 



• No record. 



The fruit from treated sections generally kept better than that 

 from untreated sections in 1894-5 and 1895-6, the Roxbury Rus- 

 set being a marked exception. In 1896-7 the fruit from the 

 ti'eated sections kept longer than in the two previous seasons, but 

 it did not generally keep so long as did the corresponding fruit 

 from untreated sections. These considerations lead to the opinion 

 that the perfect development of the fruit was hastened by apply- 

 ing the ashes to the soil. In a season which, like 1896, favors the 

 perfect development of the fruit, the ripening process may be 

 carried too far where ashes are used, and consequently the fruit 

 may not keep so well as it does where no ashes are used. In a 

 season like 1894, unfavorable to the perfect development of the 

 fruit, the use of ashes, on the contrary, may tend to bring a 

 larger proportion of fruit to perfect maturity, or may tend to 

 bring all the fruit more nearly to perfect maturity and thus im- 

 prove its keeping qualities. 



Average Yield per Tree. 



This experiment was not undertaken primarily as a fertilizer 

 experiment and it cannot be claimed that its evidence is con- 

 clusive as to the effect on the yield of applying wood ashes to the 

 soil in liberal quantities. It cannot be assumed that trees of the 



