88 STATK POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



the surface as to be injured by plowing and cultivation. They 

 also show that to get the full benefit of cultivation all the space 

 between the trees must be cultivated. 



At the Nebraska Station a study was made of the effect of 

 cultivation on the growth of apple trees, the size of fruit 

 and the water content of the soil. A small orchard was divided 

 into three parts, one of which was cultivated regularly, and the 

 other two left in grass and weeds, one of the latter being mowed 

 and the other pastured by hogs. The report says : "Trees in 

 cultivated ground suffered noticeably less from the drouth and 

 hot wiiids of summer than those in sod ground. The foliage 

 was darker and more vigorous in appearance, and there was 

 no yellowing and dropping of the leaves nor wilting during 

 hot windy days, both of which occurred with uncultivated trees. 

 Apples from cultivated land averaged nearly 14 per cent, larger 

 in weight than those from pasture land, and over 17 per cent, 

 larger than those from mowed land." The average percentages 

 of moisture in the first 20 inches of the soil in the different por- 

 tions of the orchard in the latter part of October were : Mowed 

 portion, 14; pasture portion, 14.7; portion cultivated until 

 August I, 17, and portion cultivated the entire season, 20.4. 

 The next season the results were practically the same. 



The California Station has recently reported an instance of the 

 beneficial effect of cultivation on the growth and fruitfulness 

 of orchards. Apricots grown in adjacent fields under exactly the 

 same conditions, except for cultivation, showed great difference 

 in behavior. The soil of the region in which the orchards are 

 located has a rather loose texture. One orchard was cultivated 

 several inches deep, and the otherwas uncultivated. During one 

 season the trees in the cultivated field made a wood growth 

 of over three feet, while those in the uncultivated field made a 

 growth of not over three inches. There was also a great differ- 

 ence in the fruit. The average percentage of moisture in the 

 first six feet of soil was 6.3 in the cultivated orchard and 4.2 

 in the other one. A recent bulletin of the Illinois Station 

 reports marked benefit from clean cultivation of an orchard. 



The injury caused by growing grass in young orchards is 

 shown very emphatically by an experiment conducted at the 

 Utah Station. P^rts of an orchard were seeded to alfalfa, tim- 



