s 
450 Report oF THE HORTICULTURAL DEPARTMENT OF THE 
toward the southeast corner, is a low and slightly stony ridge 
from which the land slopes gently to north and south. In the 
southwest corner, covering an area of nearly an acre there is 
a slight depression, possibly fifteen feet below the summit of 
the ridge. This hollow is tile-drained; the rest of the orchard 
is naturally drained. 
The character of the soil changes somewhat with the top- 
ographical outlines of the orchard. On the ridge and high 
ground the soil is a fertile Dunkirk sandy loam to a depth of 
nine or ten inches, underlain by a compact sandy subsoil. In 
the depression the type changes to a dark colored Dunkirk 
loam, ten to twelve inches deep, and underlain by a very fine 
compact sand. The subsoil over the entire orchard shows a 
tendency to grow coarser at a depth of three feet and down- 
ward. The orchard was chosen for this experiment because 
the variations in soil were so few and slight. 
Table I shows the composition of the soils and subsoils as 
determined by mechanical analysis. Table XI shows the 
water-soluble plant food in the soil of the Auchter orchard. 
TABLE I.—CoMPOSITION OF THE SOILS AND SUBSOILS IN THE AUCHTER 
ORCHARD. 
‘ Ver 
Coarse | Medium “4 part bine Silt, Clay, 
Description sand, | sand, 0 3 ~’ | sand, | 0.05— | beiow 
1-0.5 |0.5-0.25| “9-7 | 0.1- | 0.005 | 0.008 
mm. mm. a 0.05 mm. mm. 
x mm. 

ne | ee | eS | SS 
Per ct. | Per ct. | Perct. | Per ct. | Per ct. ; Per ct. 
Dunkirk Sandy Loam 
0-9:inches.i.2. 540i 117 52.3 366.1) SLs bee 5.6 

Subsou ee bias eae yO 60.5 cn Dat: 8.4 5.1 

——— | | | 
Dunkirk Loam, 0-11 
inches oo ae ae 4.4 26.2 9.7 30.0 19.1 10.6 
——— SS | | | 


Subsol (<n 31° 15.6 | 21.81 227:9'| 29.0 Bue 
