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BULLETIN 226. 



A part of this very great difference is doubtless due to other factors. 

 The man who regularly tills his orchard is more likely to fertilize, 

 prune and spray well. To see how much of this difference is due to 

 tillage and how much is due to other factors another classification was 

 made. 



Table n shows the average yields of those orchards that have been 

 fairly well cared for. They differ only in the factor of tillage. All 

 have received some fertilization, have been fairly well pruned, are 

 not diseased or in bad condition from any cause. Of these well cared 

 for orchards the tilled ones gave an average of 35 per cent above the 

 untilled. This tabulation doubtless gives too high a yield for the 



TABLE n. 



Yield in bushels of tilled and sod orchards. Average for the entire county of trees 

 set before 1880. Orchards all well cared for. 



TABLE n Concluded. 



orchards in sod, for in making it all diseased ones were thrown out. 

 In many cases these should have been included, for the disease fre- 

 quently gets a foothold because the sod has lowered the vitality of the 

 trees. The real difference due to sod will therefore lie between the 

 80 per cent shown by Table 10 and the 35 per cent shown by Table u. 



Does tillage pay? These tables do not show that every sod orchard 

 should be tilled, but they do show that it would pay to till the average 



