14 



BULLETIN 851, TJ. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



Table IX. — Different methods of soil management (218 farms, western New 



York). 



Items. Number of 



j records. 



Per cent 

 of total 

 records. 



Allfarms . 218 



100 



Till entire orchard annually ... .... 175 



80 





39 



Orchards in sod . ." ". 11 









The most intensive part of the cultivation is done early in the 

 spring, with the object of forming a dust mulch. Plowing is usually 

 done with a 12- or 14-inch plow, the grower making a practice of 

 plowing toward the tree row one year and away from the row the 

 following 3^ear in order to keep the orchard level. A few men used 

 gang plows. Four to six inches is the usual depth of plowing. 



Orchard tillage is continued throughout the season as the farmer 

 feels its need or finds time to cultivate. It sometimes happens that 

 on account of rain it is almost impossible to make any cultivation. 

 This, however, is not common. Ordinarily, if the orchard is well 

 worked up in the early spring, it will be necessary to cultivate it 

 once in 10 days or 2 weeks in order to hold the dust mulch. It 

 was found that those who cultivated worked their orchards over 

 an average of seven times a season. 



One or more of the following implements were used after the plow : 

 The disk harrow, roller, spring-tooth, spike-tooth, or light-draft 

 harrow. Table X gives the average day's work, with the cost per 

 acre for the above-mentioned implements. 



METHODS OF FERTILIZING. 



Closety allied with the cultural practice is that of fertilizing. 

 One hundred and sixty-seven orchardists tilled annually and used 

 some kind of fertilizer'; 44 used barnyard manure; 60 barnyard 

 manure and a cover crop ; 38 barnyard manure, commercial fertilizer, 

 and a cover crop; 19 barnyard manure and commercial fertilizer: 

 and 6 a cover crop. Not all of these men, however, made such use 

 of manure or fertilizer an annual practice. 



Table X. — Average time required and cost for different cultural operations in 

 bearing apple orchards ivith a crew of one man and two horses (loestern 

 New York). 



Implement. 



Acres in 



Cost per 



10 hours. 



acre. 



1.98 



83.00 



12.07 



.45 



7.03 



.84 



9.67 



.57 



11.53 



.48 



Walking plow 



Roller 



Disk 



Spring-tooth harrow. 

 Spike-tooth harrow. . 



Orchards which were tilled annually (see Table XI) are divided 

 into three groups — those which used (1) barnyard manure; (2) 



