112 THE CONNECTICUT POMOLOGIC-IL SOCIETY. 



lack of water will diminish crop production more or less. Till- 

 age "ponds" water within the soil and so considerably offset 

 the effect of summer drought. 



I don't need to enlarge here on the uses of tillage, the 

 value of humus, or the nitrogen-gathering properties of cover- 

 crops. You all know about these things in a general way. 

 What I want to do is to give the results of some careful or- 

 chard tests of these things, considering themi together as or- 

 chard fertilizers, i.e., things which provide humus in the soil 

 and water and nitrogen for the orchard crop. 



The first one I shall mention is reported by the New 

 York State Station^^. The trees were Baldwins, standing 40 

 feet apart each way on a fertile Dunkirk loam, ten inches deep, 

 with a sandy subsoil, with slight variations in the soil. These 

 trees, 239 in number, were set in 1877, and up to 1903 had 

 been tilled every year and had a cover crop. In 1903 one-half 

 of the orchard was laid down to grass, which in the five fol- 

 lowing years yielded about two tons a year per acre. This was 

 mowed and left where it fell as mulch. The other plot was 

 tilled in the spring and had mammoth clover three years and 

 oats two years sown as cover crop. Both plots were fertilized 

 alike, in strips across each, with phosphates and potash, nei- 

 ther of which had any visible effect. 



In the five years the yearly yield of apples from the tilled 

 plot was much larger than from the sod, 109.2 barrels, as 

 against 72.9 from sod. The tilled fruit was larger, 309 apples 

 to the barrel, against 434 from the sod. The fruit from tilled 

 land had a much higher color and matured one to three weeks 

 earlier. In common storage it kept four weeks longer and its 

 eating quality was better. The tilled trees made better growth, 

 the color of the foliage was brighter, coming out three or 

 four days earlier in spring and holding on a week or ten days 

 later in the fall. 



The average year's cost of management was $17.92 per 

 acre for sod, $24.47 for tillage. The average income $71.52 

 from sod, $110.43 from tillage. 



15 New York State Station Bulletin 314. 



