6 N. H. AGR. EXPERIMENT STATION, [Bulletin 168 



Plot. Fertilizer. Rate per acre Yield for 15 



— pounds, years — pounds. 



1. Barnyard Manure, 20,000 24,934 



2. Wood Ashes, 2,000 12,841 



3. Nothing, 3,940 



4. Bone Meal, 600 



Muriate of Potash, 200 14,453 



5. Bone Meal, 600 



Low grade Sulphate of Potash, 400 21,863 



Results secured in this orchard are striking and indicate that 

 it paid well to supply plant food in an artificial way. But the 

 significant fact is that this orchard is in sod and is not comparable 

 to the results which are recorded in this bulletin. 



THE NEW YORK EXPERIMENT.* 



The New York Experiment Station conducted an experiment 

 on the effect of the application of wood ashes and acid phosphate 

 on the yield and color of apples. The orchard was composed of 

 the following varieties: — Baldwin, Fall Pippin, Rhode Island 

 Greening, Roxbury Russet, and Northern Spy. It was 55 years 

 old at the time the results were published (1907) and had been 

 in sod prior to the experiment being inaugurated. During the 

 experiment of twelve years' duration the orchard was given clean 

 culture annually until August 1, when a cover crop of oats, 

 barley, or clover was so"\vn. Wood ashes were applied at the rate 

 of 100 pounds per tree, and during the last seven years 8^^ 

 pounds of acid phosphate per tree were also applied. 



Prof. U. P. Hedrick in commenting on this experiment says : 

 "The returns obtained in this twelve-year experiment are neg- 

 ative from a practical standpoint. The experiment shows that it 

 is not profitable to apply potash, phosphoric acid, or lime to the 

 soil of the Station orchard. Fifty-seven years of orchard crop- 

 ping has not reduced this soil to the condition where it needs 

 a 'complete' fertilizer, yet the leguminous cover crops plowed 

 under in the orchard have usually produced beneficial effects the 

 same or the next season." Elsewhere he makes this significant 

 statement: ''An interesting fact is that both treated and un- 

 treated plots increased markedly in yield from 1893 to 1904. The 

 probable explanation is that prior to 1893 the orchard was in sod 

 but during the experiment was kept under cultivation and grew 

 more productive under the treatment. ' ' 



Here we have a notable case of an orchard under cultivation 

 not responding materially to the application of potash, phos- 

 phoric acid and lime, but all plots improving markedly when a 

 good system of culture was followed, 



*Bull. 289, N. Y. Expsriment Station, 1907. 



