New YorK AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 441 
THE SOIL CONDITIONS OF NEW YORK APPLE ORCHARDS. 
It is necessary to know something of the orchard soils of 
the State if application is to be made of results obtained on 
the particular soil in which this experiment has been carried 
on. As a preliminary to this report, therefore, questions 
were sent to the 2,000 members of the Western New York 
Horticultural Society and the New York State Fruit Growers’ 
Association to obtain a general idea of the soil and the lay of 
the land of the orchards in New York. The following are sum- 
maries of the replies: | 
Of the 2,000 men addressed, 695 replied, representing 8,947 
acres of apples. Of the men who sent answers, 194 were grow- 
ing apples on clay loams; 173 on sandy loams; 151 on gravelly 
loams, and 77 on loams. The depth of top soil in 333 orchards 
was from 6 to 12 inches; 84, from 12 to 18 inches; 55,.from 18 
to 24 inches; 32, from 24 to 36 inches; 12, from 36 to 48 inches, 
while 12 soils were still deeper. The subsoils range as follows: 
Clay, 354; hardpan, 131; sand, 54; gravel, 53; and rock in 138 
orchards. The land in 310 cases was level or nearly so; in 
318, rolling, and in 55 hilly. 
ORCHARD MANAGEMENT IN NEW YORK. 
It is essential for the application of the results of an in- 
vestigation of this kind to know what methods of orchard 
management are practiced in the region in which the results 
are to be applied. Questions were sent to the persons noted 
in the preceding paragraph and answers came as follows: 395 
orchards are in sod; 370 are cultivated yearly; 33 are culti-' 
vated every other year; while 9 are cultivated at intervals 
of from two to five years. 3 
Of those who cultivate, 277 plow yearly in the spring; 49 
in fall or spring; 34 in the fall; while 9 plow two 
or more times during a season; 16 cultivate yearly but 
do not plow; 48 cultivate yearly but plow only once in 
from one to five years; 312 cultivate only until midseason while 
11 till throughout the season. As to number of times, 14 culti- 
