No. 6. 



DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



379 



TABLE IV. CULTURAL METHODS AND FERTILIZERS ON YIELDS. 



(Johnston Orchard). 



Plot. 



XIII 



XII 



XI 



(Av. 2 & 6) 



Treatment. 



o 



CO 



3 

 S 



o 



n 



CB p 





!2; 



1908, 

 1909. 

 1910, 

 1911, 



ft. 



1,170 



17,9S2 



2,940 



3,550 



ft. 



2,265 



7,455 



16,789 



2,629 



ft. 



2,843 

 10,703 

 17,254 



7,500 



ft. 



2,813 

 27,649 

 11,7.')2 

 34,502 



Totals last 3 years, 



24,472 



26,873 



35,456 



73,903 



Ratios, 

 Ratios, 

 Ratios, 



100 



109.8 

 100 



144.8 

 131.9 



lOO 



Average annual yield per acre. 3 years, 

 Average gain per acre, 



223.7 bu. 



245.7 bu. 

 22 bu. 



324.1 bu 

 100 bu. 



303 

 275 



208.4 



675.7 bu. 

 452 bu. 



In this portion of the experiment, which is devoted to cultural 

 methods, the jtlots are larger and contain 35 trees in each. The 

 yields of plots 2 and 0, from the fertilizer portion, therefore, are 

 raised to their corresponding values for plots of equivalent size. 

 No fertilizers were used on the cultural methods plots, until the 

 season just past. They were used then uniformly on all treatments, 

 primarily because the sod plot had gone two years with very litJe 

 fruit, though all the trees of these plots were plainly in need of 

 something additional. 



In Table IV the sod plot shows a little higher annual yield than the 

 average of the checks in the fertilizer portion, this being due to 

 an exceptional crop that occurred on this plot in 1909, and from 

 which the plot has not yet recovered. In the next plot, we see the 

 etfect of adding a mulch to the sod treatment. In this case, al- 

 though all the herbage that grows is left in the orchard, and a 

 further application of 3 tons of straw per acre is added to the plot, 

 the average annual gain is only 22 bushels per acre. In the next 

 plot, we find that tillage and leguminous cover crops have given a 

 fair increase, amounting to 100 bushels per acre on the average. 

 This, however, is hardly to be compared with the 452 bushel in- 

 crease shown in the next case, which is obtained without tillage 

 of any kind, merely by the addition of a fertilizer that carries the 

 elements that are evidently lacking. 



In some quarters one would gather the im])ression that apples 

 can scarcely be grown without tillage. While we have nothing 

 against proper tillage as an orchard treatment, yet this and other 



