15 



The orchard consists of about 1,700 trees, 560 of which are just 

 coming into bearing. The principal varieties are: Ben Davis, Mink- 

 ler, Stark, Rome Beauty, Jonathan, Rambo, Grimes Golden, and 

 Baldwin. Mr. Hudson kindly consented to making the tests and 

 assisted in every possible way in carrying them out. A block of 100 

 trees was reserved for the purpose on the north side of the orchard ; 

 two rows on the west end of the block were Rome Beauty, the next 

 seven rows were Stark, and the last row on the east end was Ben 

 Davis. 



CONDITION OF THE TREES. 



The Rome Beauty trees were about 11 years old and had been top 

 grafted. The Stark and Ben Davis were set at the same time, but the 

 Stark trees would average considerably larger but not quite as tall as 

 the Ben Davis. 



The orchard had been kept in sod, but was not pastured, the grass 

 being cut and placed under the trees as a mulch. Although the trees 

 were trimmed late in the Avinter, the foliage on many of them was 

 very thick, and, as the} 7 had been headed low, it was rather difficult 

 to spray them thoroughly. All were infested to a greater or less 

 extent with the San Jose scale and had been treated for that insect 

 earlier in the season. 



A severe freeze in early April killed a great number of the fruit 

 buds, but many of the trees were heavy with bloom early in May. At 

 that time (May 1) another severe freeze occurred, the temperature 

 dropping to 28°, so that ice was formed on much of the bloom, and the 

 prospects for a crop were nearly ruined. About one-fourth of a crop 

 was harvested from the entire orchard. 



After most of the windfalls had dropped an estimate was made of 

 the entire crop remaining, and is shown in Table I. Each row con- 

 tained 10 trees. 



Table I. — Estimate of crop remaining on trees after windfalls had dropped. 



Row No. 



Entire 

 crop would 

 equal a full 

 crop for— 



Row No. 



Entire 

 crop would 

 equal a full 

 crop for— 



1 



2 



3 



4 



5 



Trees. 

 4 

 Si 



n 



2i 



6 



7 



8 



9 



10 



Trees. 

 2 

 ii 

 3i 

 4 



The estimate at this time placed the yield of fruit at a little more 

 than one-fourth of a full crop. 



Rows 1 and 2 were Rome Beauty, rows 3 to 9, inclusive, were Stark, 

 and row 10 was Ben Davis. 



