STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



99 



in the old exhausted pasture, a mulch of about lOO pounds of 

 straw was placed around each tree, and screen protectors were 

 added to provide against injury from mice. Since then there 

 have been one or two slight additions to the mulch from outside 

 sources, but for the most part it has been maintained satisfac- 

 torily by the intergrowth in the manner indicated above. The 

 average gains made by the trees under these different treat- 

 ments for the first five years are shown in Table II. 



TABLE II —INFLUENCE OF CULTURAL METHODS ON GROWTH. 

 (YOUNG ORCHARD.) 



(Average Increase in trunk girth, first 5 years, in Expt. 331.) 



_ 3. The numbers of treatments here correspond with those stated in Figure 1, except 

 in the present Plat 2. It involves an intercrop, and hence is different from any treatment 

 named in our general plan. 



In this table and also in the field, it is very evident that the 

 untilled trees have made the best growth in the present experi- 

 ment. This may be partly due to the absence of root pruning 

 under the mulch, but the chief benefit thus far seems to be con- 

 nected with moisture conservation, rather than with the plant- 

 food added. This appears in the fact that the only tillage treat- 

 ment which has shown much improvement in growth is the one 

 in which manure is applied, and even its gain is surpassed by 

 the mulch alone in Plat 7. In Plats 7 and 8, where the mois- 

 ture is sufficiently retained by the mulch, thus practically elimi- 

 nating the moisture-conserving effect of the manure, the gain 

 of the latter over the mulch alone is only a quarter of an inch 

 on the average, or a gain of about 6^% which is apparently all 

 that may be properly credited to its plant- food effect. This 

 fertility benefit is practically duplicated by the fertilizer appli- 

 cations of Plats 6 and 9, the remaining benefit on the latter plat 

 being apparently due to the mulch. 



