New. YorK AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 313 
use lime in moderate quantities as a fertilizer for apples. From 
these considerations it may be assumed that lime in the quanti- 
_ ties added did not have a deleterious effect on the yield or color 
of the apple in this experiment; on the contrary, it might be 
suspected that the lime was in part responsible for such bene- 
ficial effects as were noted. 
While no tests to determine the acidity of the soil were made, 
it may be inferred, since all leguminous cover crops grew readily 
in the untreated plats, that the soil of the orchard is not strongly 
acid, for the clovers, in particular, do not thrive in an acid soil. 
Acid phosphate was applied to the treated plats at the rate of 
8% pounds per tree during the last seven years of the experi- 
ment. With 48 trees per acre, there were, therefore, 408 pounds 
of the acid phosphate applied to each acre. The fertilizer was 
guaranteed to contain 14 per ct. of phosphoric acid (analysis 
proved it to contain approximately that much) and the amount 
of available phosphoric acid per tree each season was 1.19 
pounds, or 8.33 pounds per tree in the seven years. This is 
equivalent to 399.84 pounds per acre, an average of 57 pounds 
per-acre annually. The amount of phosphoric acid recom- 
mended for apples ranges from 30 to 60 pounds per acre. Add- 
ing to the above amount the phosphoric acid to be found in the 
wood ashes, approximately 72 pounds per acre, the total quan- 
tity is about 129 pounds per acre,— an abundance and to spare. 
The phosphoric acid was applied as were the ashes — scat- 
tered broadcast in the spring over an area slightly greater than 
that covered by the branches of the trees; a disk harrow was 
used to work the fertilizer rather deeply into the soil. 
THe RESULTS: 
There are several standards of measurement as to the merit 
of any treatment. to which a fruit tree is subjected; as, growth 
of wood; leaf-size and total leaf-area; the several qualities of 
fruit, as size, color, texture of flesh and keeping quality; and 
such tree characters as hardiness, productiveness, bearing habit 
and longevity. That is, the health and vigor of the tree and 
the value of the product are proportional to these qualities and 
characters and especially as to the degree of agreement between 
them. A wholly reliable method of testing any treatment of a 
fruit tree should take all of the above features into consideration 
and a method of measurement lacking any considerable number 
