January, '14] FERTILIZERS IN CULTIVATED ORCHARD. 7 



NEW YORK EXPERIMENT STATION, BULL. 339. 



In another bulletin by the New York Experiment Station Prof. 

 U. P. Hedrick reports another experiment in which fertilizers 

 failed to produce results. Here, again, the orchard is cultivated, 

 not in sod, and the orchard is young. The following gives the 

 treatments applied to the various plots : 



Stable Manure 415.15 pounds per tree. 



Acid Phosphate 12.66 pounds per tree. 



Muriate of Potash 7.26 pounds per tree. 



Acid Phosphate 12.6 pounds per tree. 



Muriate of Potash 7.26 pounds per tree. 



Acid Phosphate 12.6 pounds per tree. 



Nitrate of Soda 3.67 pounds per tree. 



Dried Blood 12.84 pounds per tree. 



The experiment continued over fifteen years to determine whether 

 it is necessary to fertilize apple orchards. 



The author concludes from this work : 



"The fertilizers have had no sensible effects upon the yield 

 of fruit in this experiment. The size of the apples is possibly 

 increased by the fertilizers since the percentage of culls and 

 seconds is a trifle higher in the check plots. 



"All of the trees in the several plots have borne crops very 

 uniform in maturity, keeping quality, texture and flavor of 

 apples. 



"The trees in this experiment would have been practically as 

 well off had not an ounce of fertilizer been applied to them. ' ' 



He then calls attention to the fact that it may be necessary to 

 fertilize some orchards in the state, especially those on light soils. 



THE PENNSYLVANIA EXPERIMENTS.* 



The Pennsylvania Experiment Station has under investigation 

 the problem of orchard culture and fertilization in a number of 

 orchards with a variety of soils, varieties and other conditions. 

 This work has been in progress for six years and shows most 

 striking results from the use of fertilizers. The conclusions of 

 this Station are based on "13 experiments involving 10 soil types, 

 12 different locations, 2,653 trees and about 34,610 bushels of 

 fruit in the last 5 years. Only six of these experiments, however, 

 are entirely on fertilization and in bearing. Three of the others, 

 involving 660 trees, are in young orchards, planted in 1908 in 

 connection with these experiments and the remaining four are 

 primarily on cultural methods, though fertilization is also in- 

 volved." Dr. John P. Stewart, in charge of this work makes the 

 following deductions from his work : 



♦Bull. 121, Penn. Exp. Station, 1913. 



