174 POMOLOGY 



color than when cultivated. If the trees are in sod mulch, the 

 yield is somewhat higher than in sod alone, although as a rule 

 fertilizers or manures are necessary to obtain best results. 



Some of the best-known experiments in this country have 

 been conducted by the New York Experiment Station and 

 have been referred to in the discussion of "growth." To 

 recapitulate and state in more detail: The experiment was 

 conducted as follows (Auchter orchard). The soil was a 

 fertile Dunkirk loam, about ten inches in depth and under- 

 laid by a sandy subsoil. The orchard of nine and one-half 

 acres of Baldwin trees was divided in half in the first five 

 years, so that 118 were left in sod and 121 under tillage. In 

 the second five-year period, the orchard was divided into 

 quarters so that one quarter was in sod for ten years and 

 another in tillage for ten years, a third quarter was in sod 

 for five years and under tillage the latter five years, while 

 the other fourth was in tillage the first five years and in sod 

 five years. While potash and phosphoric acid were used 

 for the first three years in this experiment, no results were 

 noted where they were applied and this fact need not come 

 into the present discussion. 



The plot which was tilled for ten consecutive years re- 

 sulted in an average yield to a tree of 4.29 barrels; the plot 

 in sod for ten years yielded 2.54 barrels to the tree; the plot 

 which was tilled for five years and in sod five years averaged 

 for the second five-year period 2 barrels to the tree; while the 

 plot which was first in sod for five years and then tilled for 

 five, gave an average of 5.17 barrels during the second period. 

 These figures are very striking and emphasize the value of 

 tillage under the conditions of this orchard. 



Another experiment by the New York Experiment Sta- 

 tion was conducted for a ten-year period to determine the 

 value of tillage and mulch in an apple orchard (Hitchings 

 orchard). In this case, the land was deep, fertile, and well 



