There is a wide deverslty of opinion among fruit 



growers as to which of the two methods is the better. 



According to an experiment conducted at the Woburn 



Experimental Fruit Farm in England with regard to the effect 



of grass on apple treec, it was found that the grass roots 



excreted a substance which was toxic to the tree roots and 



that the poor results usually obtained from the sod method of 



management was due to this toxic effect rather than to the 



fact that the grass robbed the trees of .noisture and food 



v/hen it is most needed. An experiment carried on at the 



Geneva Station in this state seeas to favor the cover-crop 



method. An orchard was divided into two plats, one being 



left in sod and the other being cultivated according to 



the cover crop method. After running for six years, the 



following suggestive data was recorded. 



Sod Tillage 



Fruits per bbl . 434 309 



Bbls. per tree,- 2.8 4.2 



Ket profit per acre,- 71.52 110.43 



Gain in diameter of trunk,- 1.1 inch 2.1 inch. 



These results are undoubtedly in favor of the tillage 



method of management. 



On of the greatest arguments in favor of sod mulch 



is that it is less expensive and takes less time, thereby 



leaving the grower more tiae to engage in other farm 



operations. In the above quoted experiment exact cost 



accounts were kept and the sod method was less than one 



half as expensive to operate than the tillage method on an 



i:Vgrae,e; but the net gains were nore than proportionally 



