AN APPLE ORCHARD SURVEY OF WAYNE COUNTY, NEW YORK. 267 



Where does your orchard come, in the table on page 350? Is it where 

 you want it to be? If so, continue your present methods; if not, then 

 try to find out where the trouble is. 



The results of good and bad treatment are not always apparent the first 

 year. The great difficulty in determining what kind of treatment pays 

 best in any particular orchard is the fact that it may be several years 

 before the results are apparent in the difference in crops. If this fact 

 were kept in mind by the orchardists, a very large part of the differ- 



FIG. 44. Tillage v. neglect. The rows on the right were left in sod, those on the left 

 were tilled. The trees were otherwise similarly treated, and are of the same age. 



ence of opinion as to the best method of caring for an orchard would 

 disappear. Very frequently a grower has followed a few years of 

 good care by a period of neglect and has received an increased yield 

 as a result. The trees may be making almost no new wood, and may 

 be so lowered in vitality as to be easy victims of canker and other 

 diseases. Yet the increased crop may have persuaded the grower that 

 this is the ideal treatment. No care can be good if it does not look 

 out for the future of the orchard. Many orchards need treatment that 

 will actually decrease the yield for several years, while care that will 



