FERTILIZERS AND MANURES FOR THE ORCHARD 203 



The varieties involved were Baldwin, Fall Pippin, Rhode 

 Island Greening, Roxbury Russet, and Northern Spy. 

 Clean culture was followed annually until August 1, when a 

 cover-crop of oats, barley, or clover was sown. Wood-ashes 

 were applied at the rate of 100 pounds to a tree and also in 

 the last seven years 83^ pounds of acid phosphate to a tree. 

 The conclusion drawn is that: "The returns obtained in 

 this twelve-year experiment are negative from a practical 

 standpoint. The experiment shows that it is not profitable 

 to apply potash, phosphoric acid, or lime to the soil of this 

 orchard. Fifty-seven years of orchard cropping 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. . . . An interesting fact is 

 that both treated and untreated plots increased mark- 

 edly in yield from 1893 to 1904. The probable explanation 

 is that prior to 1893 the orchard was in sod but during the 

 experiment it was kept under cultivation and grew more 

 productive under the treatment." 



In another experiment ^ conducted in a younger orchard, 

 a similar lack of response from the use of fertilizers is reported 

 after fifteen years' work. The variety was Rome Beauty 

 top-worked on Ben Davis. The following results were se- 

 cured from the treatments: 



I N. Y. Agr. Exp. Sta. Bull. 339. 1911. 



