34 



FUNDAMENTALS OF FRUIT PRODUCTION 



Table 19. — Influence of Cultural Methods on Moisture, Growth and Yield 



IN a Young Orchard 



(Results from Experiment 331, first 7 years, 1908-1914122) 



Some New Hampshire Records. — That the moisture supply in a tilled 

 orchard is not invariably superior to that in one under a sod-mulch system 

 of soil management is shown by the data presented in Table 20 from an 

 orchard on light sandy loam in New Hampshire. In this instance 

 measurements were taken of the percentage of moisture in the surface 

 7 to 9 inches of soil and in the subsoil (to a depth of 3 feet) at weekly 

 intervals during the growing periods of four successive seasons. The 

 figures represent seasonal averages. 



Gourley, in reporting these observations, suggests that the lower moisture 

 in the tilled plot may be due in part to the greater permeability of the subsoil 

 and in part to the absence of a covering to shade the soil. Additional factors 

 cited as possible explanations are a slight mulch in the sod plot, the slight demand 

 made by the poor grass and finally, the increased drain on the soil in the tilled 

 plot due to the larger growth and larger leaves on the apple trees growing there. 

 It should be stated that despite the higher moisture content in the sod plot the 

 growth and yields there were inferior. Gourley, discussing a late summer 

 drought accompanied by a severe dropping of fruit, states, "The dropping was 

 just as severe in the heavier soil which showed 12 per cent, of moisture as in the 

 lighter soil which showed about 7 per cent, which would agree with the findings 

 of the soil physicists on the wilting point in light and heavy soils." 



English Experience. — Bedford and Pickering^'' report some interesting data 

 showing that uniform results are not attendant upon similar treatments. "Pot 

 experiments under glass indicated that, during the summer months, 30 per cent, 

 more water was lost from the pots where there was a surface crop than from those 

 where there was none; but when the pots were in the open, exposed to the sun 

 and wind, the reverse was often — not always — the case, and the evaporation 

 from the pots with the surface crop might, during the season, be even less than 

 half of that from those without a surface crop." 



