75 



ficial. For instance, the discussion now centers around the yield 

 of fruit. While of course the crop is the ultimate criterion of or- 

 chard treatment yet the effect upon the trees as indicated by the leaf, 

 wood and root development is quite as important an index of the 

 ralue of tree treatment as the crop of fruit. 



The care of the two plots in the Auchter orchard has been as 

 follows : The tilled plot is plowed in the spring and cultivated from 

 four to six times ending the cultivation about August first, at which 

 time a cover crop of barley, oats or clover is sown. On the sod- 

 mulch plots, the grass is cut once or twice during the season and 

 allowed to lie where cut and decay into a mulch. The grass crop 

 has usually been large, but last year it was enormous, thick and tall, 

 standing to the top of the fore wheels of a buggy and no one could 

 say that it was ever insufficient for a good mulch. In all other 

 details of care the treatment has been the same in the two plots. 



The ultimate criterion of the relative merits of the management 

 to which an orchard is subjected is the crops of fruit obtained. It 

 is important, however, that trees should grow well and for the meas- 

 ure of vigor there are several characters of the trees available ; as the 

 leaf area on the tree, the length of new wood formed ; the number 

 of new shoots and the color of leaf and wood. The properties of 

 the fruit, as size, color, time of maturity, keeping qualities and 

 flavor must be noted. We come now to a discussion of these 

 criteria. 



The effects of the two methods of management on yield of 

 fruit are shown by the following figures : 



Bbls. sod Bbls. tillage 



1904, 615.1 591.9 



1905, 233. 278.9 



1906, 210.3 531.1 



1907, 275.3 424.3 



1908, 325.3 722.5 



Average yield per acre on the plots for the five years : sod, 72.9 

 barrels : tillage. 109.2 barrels ; dift"erence in favor of tillage per acre, 

 36.3 barrels. These results scarcely need comment. For an aver- 

 age of five years the tilled plot shows an increase of a little over one- 

 fourth above the sod-mulch plot. The figures first read show that 

 each succeeding year the difference becomes greater, indicating a 

 continuous loss of vigor in the sod-mulch trees. 



One of the chief advantages of the sod-mulch method, as put 

 forth by its promulgators is, that it is a much less expensive method 

 of caring for an orchard. The average expense per acre of the two 

 methods of management for five years w^as $17.92 for sod; and 

 $24.47 foi* tillage, a difference of $6.55 in favor of the sod. It is 

 true that the outgo has been greater for the tilled plot but the in- 

 come has been greater. The cost of production has been materially 

 less for the tilled trees and that is the main point in the whole dis- 

 cussion. A cheap and easy way of growing apples is not neces- 

 sarily the most renumerative way. 



Leaving the yield of fruit for a brief consideration of the 

 effects of the two treatments on tree characters we can mention first 



