AN ORCHARD SURVEY. 



39 



counties ; but only nine of these states gave a larger crop in 1899. 

 No other county in the United States produced as many apples 

 as any one of these. Only four counties, one in Illinois, one in 

 Missouri, and two in Arkansas had as many trees as any one of 

 these." 



How the v:orh was conducted. An inspector was sent into the 

 field equipped with a note book, soil auger, and camera. His 

 note book contained blanks prepared for collecting information 

 on age, fertilization, tillage, spraying, past and present troubles, 

 yields, markets, and prices. The soil and site of the orchard 

 were examined with a view of correlating present condition with 

 aspect and topography. About five hundred orchards were criti- 

 caUy examined and the following results were secured. 



Some Important Findings. 



Influence of tillage. The following table shows the results 

 from different methods of soil treatment, and emphasizes the 

 benefits of cultivation over sod treatment: 



Yield in bushels of tilled and sod orchards. Average for the entire 

 county of trees set before 1880. Orchards all well cared for. 



Treatment 



Tilled 5 years or more 

 Tilled most years 

 Sod most years 

 Sod .5 years or more 



No. 



25 

 22 

 2i 

 25 



Average 

 Acres yield 



1755 

 181 

 209 

 206 



348 

 353 

 260 

 224 



No. 



22 

 21 

 25 

 31 



1901 



Acres 



177i 

 188 

 244i 

 249 



Average 

 yield 



99 

 38 

 72 

 45 



1902 



Treatment 



Average 

 No. Acres vield 



Tilled 5 y'ears or more 38 401$ 311 



Tilled most years 38 261. V 339 



Sod most years 46 3651 235 



Sod 5 years or more 47 356| 269 



1903 



Four 

 Average year 

 No. Acres yield average 



23 345 326 



16 99V 249 



15 122"" 257 



22 1571 263 



271 

 245 

 206 



200 



Mr. Warren, who had charge of the field investigations, asks, 

 "Does tillage pay?" and continues: "This table does not show 

 that every sod orchard should be tilled, but it does show that it 



