NEw York AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 307 
THE EXPERIMENT. 
The trial of wood ashes as a fertilizer for apples was begun 
by Professor S. A. Beach in the Station orchard in 1893 and 
was carried on by him to its completion at the close of the 
season of 1904; a preliminary report of the experiment was 
published in Bulletin No. 140 from this Station in 1897. The 
remaining data were turned over to the writer, as Professor 
Beach’s successor, and this report is based on the one published 
in Bulletin No. 140 and on the subsequent data. The experiment 
was planned to determine the effects of wood ashes on the scab 
fungus of the apple as well as the value of the ashes as a fer- 
tilizer, but when it was found, after liberal applications of the 
ashes for five years, that the immunity of the apples to the 
fungus was in no degree increased, this phase of the experiment 
was dropped. : 
Beginning with the season of 1898 the test of wood ashes was 
supplemented by one with acid phosphate, and the two experi- 
ments were carried on jointly until the close of the season of 
1904. Since wood ashes contain considerable quantities of phos- 
phoric acid and lime, the original experiment was really one 
with potash, phosphoric acid and lime as found in wood ashes. 
Location and character of soil—The seat of the experiment 
is a mature apple orchard, 55 years old at the close of the ex- 
periment, on the Station grounds. The location is a piece of 
upland sloping to the south and running into the bottom land 
of a small creek. The soil is a heavy clay loam from twelve to 
eighteen inches deep, resting on a still heavier, compact clay 
sub-soil; this in turn is superimposed on shale to be found at a 
depth of from four to six feet near the creek, to from fifteen to 
twenty in parts of the orchard. An analysis of essentially 
the same soil taken in an adjoining field shows the following 
constituents: 
