134 SCIENCE AND FRUIT GROWING 



on the alternating tendency to the extent of 50 per cent., and on 

 chance fruiting to the extent of 50 per cent. 



All the trees compared together were of the same age, and 

 had received exactly the same treatment since they had been 

 planted; in some cases they were compared in couples, in other 

 cases the groups compared together consisted of three or six 

 trees; in which latter cases the actual differences in the 

 " numbers " given to the trees would not be the same as where 

 only two trees were compared. But the percentage tendencies 

 towards the different forms of fruiting need alone be given 

 here; these are entered in the following table, the first series 

 applying to dwarf apples and a few pears of several different 

 varieties at Harpenden, the others to dwarf apples at Ridgmont. 

 The dates to which the observations apply are entered in the 

 second column, and the number of instances on which the results 

 depend, in the third column. 



Fruiting indicated. 



Varieties. Dates. Instances. Consecutive. Alternate. Chance. 



i. Several . 1899-1903 332 o 44 56 



2. Bramley 



3. Cox . 



4. Potts 



5. Stirling 



1904-1913 1050 12 o 



1898-1909 840 16 o 84 



1897-1904 1266 5 o 95 



1897-1913 366 o 6 94 



6. 117 varieties 1906-1913 1207 15 o 85 



There can be no doubt but that the results at Harpenden are 

 very different from those at Ridgmont, for, whereas the former 

 indicate a strong tendency towards alternate fruiting, the latter, 

 with one exception, indicate a tendency, though a feeble one, 

 towards consecutive fruiting. The Harpenden results must, 

 however, be discounted to a certain extent, for the number of 

 instances available was smaller, and the period over which the 

 observations extended was shorter, than in any of the other 

 cases : also, there were some preliminary observations made on 

 these same trees in 1894-7, when the results were of an opposite 

 character, there being then 20 instances supporting alternate 

 cropping, and 30 supporting consecutive cropping. This may 

 have been, however, due to the youth of the trees at the time, 

 for with trees which have not yet come into proper bearing, pre- 

 cociousness, or the reverse, in certain individuals, would increase 

 the number of trees behaving in the same way in consecutive 

 seasons. 



The difference between the Harpenden and Ridgmont results 

 cannot, however, be explained away on any of the above grounds, 

 and is, no doubt, real. There are probably tendencies both to 



