January, '14] FERTILIZERS IN CULTIVATED ORCHARD. 9 



applications of commercial fertilizers and it was with this fact 

 in view that such a study was undertaken. 



Records have been made mainly on the effect of the treatments 

 on yield and growth of trees and size of fruit, no special study 

 aside from general observations being made on the color, quality, 

 texture and keeping quality of the fruit from the various plots. 



Unfortunately this experiment is not laid out in such a way as 

 to give a check on the results derived from the various fertilizer 

 ingredients, but rather the results which might be obtained from 

 a complete fertilizer and from nitrogen, phosphoric acid, and 

 potash in predominence. 



THE ORCHARD IN QUESTION. 



The orchard which has been used for this experiment is leased 

 for a ten-year period from Mrs. S. J. Woodman. It is located 

 two and one-half miles west from the college. When the orchard 

 was leased it contained 302 trees, but a few have died during the 

 past six years and some others are in bad shape and have been 

 eliminated from the experiment. Black rot canker {Sphaeropis 

 malorum, Peck) has caused most of the trouble, probably follow- 

 ing injury to the limbs after the severe winter of 1906. The 

 trees are Baldwins set 35 feet apart each way and are 31 years 

 old at the present time (1913). Previous to 1908 when the or- 

 chard was leased the trees were standing in sod and yielding 

 unsatisfactory crops. The land had never been plowed and the 

 hay crop was removed annually. 



The orchard is 62 feet above sea level, and lies quite level. The 

 soil is of a sandy nature and rather uniform throughout, running 

 a little lighter toward the northwest end. The land is naturally 

 well drained and no tiling has been put in. 



A VIEW OF THE ANALYSES OF THE ORCHARD. 



A mechanical analysis of the soil as given in Table I shows it to be quite 

 light. The surface soil is shallow, the sand and gravel being about seven 

 inches below the surface. Such a soil is in marked contrast to the one used 

 by the New York Experiment Station and the analysis of that soil is given as 

 a matter of comparison. This analysis is taken from Bulletin 339, New York 

 Experiment Station. 



A chemical analysis still further reveals the character of the soil we are 

 dealing with, as shown in Table 2, This shows the soil to be relatively high 

 in potash, but very low in phosphoric acid, in fact about at the limit of 

 productivity according to Hilgard.* Lime is also rather low. . 



"While the percentage of some of these necessary ingredients are low yet 

 the fact that the soil is light and allows a greater penetration of the roots 

 may explain in part the fact that the plants have not responded to applica- 

 tions of these ingredients in the form of artificial fertilizers. Hilgard in 

 his "Soils," page 347 states: "In 'light' or sandy lands the roots may 

 penetrate to several times the depth attained by them in heavy clay soils. 



* "Soils," by Hilgard. 



