448 Report OF THE HORTICULTURAL DEPARTMENT OF THE 
EXPERIMENTS BY THIS STATION. 
The comparison of tillage and sod-mulch for the apple was 
begun by the New York Agricultural Experiment Station in 
the season of 1903 under the direction of Professor S. A. Beach, 
then Station Horticulturist. Experiments were started in two 
orchards in widely separated parts of the State and under 
very different environments; the investigation is to continue 
for five years to come. One of the experiments is located on 
the farm of W. D. Auchter, seven miles west of the city of 
Rochester; the other is on the farm of Grant Hitchings near 
Syracuse, New York. This report has to do with the 
Auchter orchard, work in the Hitchings orchard not having 
been carried far enough to warrant a formal presentation of 
results. The comparative inaccessibility of the latter orchard 
and the immaturity of part of the trees have made it impos- 
sible, as yet, to secure all the data needed for a thorough dis- 
cussion of the experiment. Since the report covers only half 
the period the experiment is to run, it is not final. 
THE AUCHTER EXPERIMENT. 
The trees.—The Auchter orchard consists of a little over 
nine and one-half acres of Baldwin trees set in 1877 at a dis- 
tance apart of 40 feet each way. There are 10 rows in the 
orchard, each containing 26 trees. The accompanying chart 
shows the location of rows and trees. Rows 1 to 5 inclusive 
are under sod-mulch treatment and rows 6 to 10 are tilled. A 
few trees in each plat, indicated in the chart, either because 
of marked inferiority or being of varieties other than Baldwin 
are not in the experiment. The number of trees in the sod- 
plat actually in the experiment is 118; in the tilled plat, 121. 
Previous to this experiment the trees had been under tillage 
with an annual cover crop. Plate XXV shows the adjoining 
edges of the two plats. } 
Topography and soil.—The topography of the Auchter 
orchard and the surrounding fields is typical of the western 
New York apple belt. Beginning at about the center of the 
orchard at the west end, and running diagonally lengthwise 
