SOD MULCH vs. TILLAGE FOR APPLE ORCHARDS 809 



in a thirty -year-old apple tree. The weight of the leaves on the 

 tilled plat averaged 2.8 grams more per leaf than those on the sod 

 plat. The fruit ripened about three weeks earlier on the sod 

 plat and generally excelled in color the fruit from the tilled plat. 

 However, the fruit from the tilled plat was larger, crisper and 

 juicier than that from the sod plat, and kept from three to four 

 weeks longer in common storage. Actual count showed 434 apples 

 per barrel on the sod plat, weighing 5.01 ounces each, while it took 

 only 309 apples from the tilled plat to make a barrel. These 

 apples weighed 7.04 ounces each. 



COSTS AND RETURNS 



In the final analysis, the thing in which fruit growers are all 

 interested is yields, costs, and returns. No matter how good a 

 method may be, if it will not produce the income, we are not inter- 

 ested in it. I venture to say that in this respect we are no differ- 

 ent from other business men. 



Summarizing the yields, costs, etc., this orchard for ten years,* 

 gave us an average yield per acre on the sod plat of 69.16 

 barrels, and 011 the tilled plat 116.8 barrels, or a difference in 

 favor of the tilled plat of 47.64 barrels per acre per year. The 

 average cost per acre of growing and harvesting apples in sod was 

 $51.73 ; under tillage the cost was $83.48 a difference in favor 

 of sod of $31.75. However, when these figures were subtracted 

 from the gross returns, it was found that the increased returns 

 from the larger crop on the tilled plat more than offset this differ- 

 ence. There was a balance left for the sod plat of $74.31 per 

 acre and for the tilled plat $140.67 per acre; in other words, 

 $66.36 more per acre per year was made from the tilled plat after 

 deducting expenses than was made from the sod plat. This 

 means that for every dollar taken from the sod plat, after deduct- 

 ing the cost of growing and harvesting the apples, one dollar and 

 eighty-nine cents was taken from the tilled plat each year for 

 ten years. With us there is need for no more proof as to which 

 method of culture is the best. 



* U. P. Hedrick, N. Y. Agr. Exp. Sta. Bulletins 314 and 383. 



