122 



ments on apple production so far reported. The details of 

 the Pennsylvania experiments are given elsewhere, so that 

 the present discussion is confined merely to the more strik- 

 ing and practical phases of the results. Of these the first 

 that we shall consider is the matter of cultural methods or 

 soil management in young orchards. 



CULTURAL METHODS IN YOUNG ORCHARDS. 



How should the soil be managed in a young orchard so 

 as to give the best growth and the earliest fruiting of the 

 trees? Should it be thoroughly tilled, both before and after 

 planting, or may equal or superior results be secured in 

 otiier ways? Does it pay to fertilize 3'oung apple trees, 

 and if so, how? Do covercrops pay? Can intercrops, or 

 crops for profit be grown betAveen the rows without ma- 

 terial injury to the trees? These and similar questions 

 must be answered in some way by everyone who expects to 

 earn his living by means of apple production. Fortunately, 

 data now available from three of the Pennsylvania experi- 

 ments, covering the first six years of the life of the trees, 

 will assist materially in answering them. 



The first of these experiments is on Volusia silt loam, 

 in the western end of the state and about midway between 

 Pittsburg and Erie. The experiment was started with the 

 planting of the orchard in the spring of 1908. The field had 

 been in sod, of a rather light and poor growth, and it was 

 plowed and prepared about as for corn before the trees 

 were set, in all plats except the last. No. 14. In it the sod 

 was left undisturbed, the trees were planted with a spade 

 and were mulched at once with about 100 pounds each of 

 straw or similar vegetation and were also protected from 

 mice. Since then the mulch has been maintained by means 

 of the intergrowth and by further additions of outside 

 materials as needed to prevent any appreciable growth of 

 vegetation immediately over the majority of the tree roots. 

 AH the other plats have been tilled annually in the usual 

 manner, and in addition they have received the various 

 treatments indicated in Table I. The first 10 plats contain 

 18 trees each, of three varieties, — Baldwin, Northern Spy, 

 and Rome Beauty. The last four contain 45 trees each, of 

 the same varieties, and all are set at the rate of 27 to the 

 acre. 



