262 



BULLETIN 226. 



Crops were grown in 1903 in about one-third of the tilled orchards. 

 About 8 per cent of the entire area, or 27 per cent of the tilled area, was 

 sown to cover-crops, to be plowed under. The remainder were tilled 

 without any crop, but a cover-crop of weeds was quite common. 



Three-fourths of the orchards set since 1879 were tilled in 1903. 

 Crops were grown in all but 7 per cent of those that were tilled. The 

 young orchard generally takes its place as one field in the crop rota- 

 tion. This keeps it in sod about one-fourth of the time, in small grain 

 one-fourth of the time, and in tilled crops half the years (Table 9). 



TABLE 9. 

 Treatment in 1903 of orchards set since 



Yields of tilled and untilled orchards. Table 10 gives the yields for 

 four years of orchards that have been tilled every year for at least five 

 years previous to the crop reported, those that were tilled over half 

 the years, those that were tilled occasionally but not half the time, and 

 for those that have been in sod every year for at least five years. 



It will be seen that the tilled orchards have given a uniformly large/ 

 yield than those in sod, the four-year average of the tilled ones being 

 80 per cent above that of the untilled. Perhaps the most striking point 

 in the tables is the uniform agreement of the averages for each of 

 the three parts of the county and for each of the four years. It should 

 be remembered that these tables include every orchard set before 1880, 

 for which reports of yields could be obtained, and that every orchard in 

 Walworth was examined. There can be no further question as to whether 

 the average sod or the average tilled orchard in Wayne county gives the 

 larger yield. 



