1917.] PUBLIC DOCUMENT — No. 31. 83 a 



many thousands of trees in this State if similar methods were 

 used. 



7. Several methods of handling the soil in orchards have been 

 under investigation for some time. There are, first of all, blocks 

 under sod culture with adjoining blocks under cultivation. 

 Then in the cultivated sections various crops and combinations 

 of crops are being compared as covers. The list includes the 

 following: — 



Buckwheat. 

 Summer Vetch. 

 Winter Vetch. 

 Crimson Clover. 

 Mammoth Red Clover. 

 Soy Beans. 

 Alfalfa. 



Barley. 



Canada Field Peas. 



Cow-horn Turnips. 



Purple-top Turnips. 



Dwarf Essex Rape. 



Rye. 



Several mixtures of two or more of the above were also used. 



8. It seems worth while to report here a very limited ex- 

 periment undertaken at the request of the manufacturers of a 

 secret compound known as Dextrogerm. In 1915 a representa- 

 tive of this firm came to Amherst and treated five trees w^th 

 this compound. The trees comprised a twenty-year-old Ben 

 Davis tree which vv'as loaded with fruit but in a very unthrifty 

 condition; an unusually growthy Rhode Island Greening tree 

 of the same age that bore very little fruit; a pear tree about 

 eighteen years old which was in very bad condition: a peach 

 tree which had been winter injured; and a young Baldwin 

 three years set. All these trees were given identical treatment, 

 and so far as can be judged there has been no effect whatever. 



In addition to the above we are working on the following 

 questions: — 



1. The relative value of southern grown nursery stock as 

 compared to northern grown. 



2. The desirability of one-year trees as against two-year trees. 



3. A comparison of various degrees of severity in pruning 

 trees at the time of setting. 



None of these experiments has progressed far enough to give 

 definite results. 



