-5- 



may cost more but i? a .;cnci nulch aiia frequently used, provided any smothering 

 chaff is discarded. Growing rye, oats or millet especially for mulching is 

 practical, if these crops are cut before their seeds mature, 



— 0. G. Anderson 



-;;- ■;;- -;;- -;;- -"- -;«■ -> •«• * <*• •«■ ^^ * -is- •;;- -;;- -;;- ■>!- -x- 



GRCV;TH REUTIGi;3HIPS I;I PEACH TP-EES 



(Review of a paper on "The Relationship of Leaf Color, Nitrogen ana Rainlall 

 to the Growth cf Young Peach Trees," by V;. P, Judkins, Ohio Agr, Exp. Station) 



liany peach orchards are located on sites and soils that are subject to 

 erosion under the usual practice of cultivation. There is now a trend towara tne 

 use of sod systems of soil management to reduce erosion and soil depletion. 



Soil moisture and nitrogen are the factors which are most frequently limiting- 

 in orchards -u'here peach trees are grown in sod. Host investigators have reported 

 reduced growth of young peach trees when grown in sod as compared to trees gro-ivn 

 under cultivation. Some investigators report satisfactory grov^th and yield of 

 bearing age peach trees when groi/vn in sod. 



The experiment conducted by Dr. Judkins was designed to secure additional 

 infcririation on the growth response of the young trees under a sod system and to 

 study the influence of various amounts of nitrogen on such trees. 



Halehaven trees were planted in the spring of 19hh and 19hS on a deep, well 

 drained silt loam. Some of the trees were planted in an oven/intered crop of rye 

 and the land was then disked and seeded to a mixture of blue grass, timothy, red 

 top, alsike clover and red clover. The land vras not plowed or cultivated at any 

 time. Several different nitrogen fertilizer treatments vrere established when the 

 trees were set. 



The trees under cultivation rrere -;;- CGMTY AGENTS' CORNER 



set at the same time as those set in -^ 



sod. They have been maintained under -;:- The Values of I.Iulch - (Some inter- 

 a system of trashy cultivation from the -»- esting observations are here presented 

 middle of Hay until late June v;hen a -;;- by Bertram Tomlinson, County Agent- 

 summer cover crop of soybeans vas ■>"- Manager, Cape Cod Extension Service) 

 planted. In September the land was -;;- 



disked and seeded to rye. Nitrogen -"- The value of mulch in regard to th- 



v;as applied at the rate of l/U pound -;:- culture of blueberries has been empha- 



of a 20f. nitrogen fertilizer for each •>!■ sized and re-emphasized so that it has 



year of tree age.. -;:- become a pretty vrell knovm factor. T/Ve 



-;!- have been told that mulching v/ith straw. 



Rainfall in the summer of 19hh -"- leaves, cheap hay or any organic 



Y;as below average. This lack of •"> material saves labor by keeping down the 



rainfall had a retarding effect on the -;;- vreeda and conserves moisture. I have 



trees grcvm in sod plots. This suppres- -x- always felt that there was another very 



sicn of grovrth y:as sufficiently severe -x- important function for mulch material 



to exert a retarding influence on tree -x- that has never been sufficiently empha- 



growth for several succeeding seasons. -;;- sized, and that is, that mulch acts as 



