SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL MEETING. 135 



variety to do its best, there being no entirely unproductive 

 year since trees reached bearino- size. 



If we could have foreseen at planting time the difference 

 in productiveness and selling value of these varieties, and 

 planted accordhigly, it should have made a difference of sev- 

 eral hundred per cent, in the cash returns from the orchard, 

 taken as a whole. It appears extremely important, therefore, 

 in making large plantings of fruit trees, to select those varie- 

 ties KNOWN to be most suitable for soil, and most in demand in 

 market one must use to sell in. 



Prof. Hedrick : I would name it (Chairs' Choice) as 

 the second most important commercial peach in New York, 

 Elberta ranking first. 



Mr. S. G. Cook : I have grown them in Connecticut ; 

 the trees grow large, but do not bear much fruit. I never 

 got but one heavy crop of Chairs' Qioice in Southern Con- 

 necticut and that was two years ago. 



President Putnam : We will now take up the first topic 

 on the morning's program, which is one of great interest to 

 every orchardist. As you know, the question of "Tillage vs. 

 Mulching for the Apple Orchard" has been much discussed 

 of late, and I think we are particularly fortunate in having so 

 able an authority as Professor Hedrick to lead the discussion 

 of the subject this morning. 



Tillage vs. Sod-Mulch for the Apple Orchard. 



By Prof. U. P. Hedrick, N. Y. State Experiment Station, 



Geneva. 



My subject implies a controversy. The disputed ques- 

 tion is. Will an apple orchard thrive and fruit better under 

 tillage or in sod with the grass used as a mulch? The 

 Geneva Experiment Station is conducting two experiments 

 to settle this question. This paper is largely a report on one 

 of these trials of the two methods of orchard management, 

 the other ndt having been carried far enough to warrant a 



