5384 Report OF THE HORTICULTURAL DEPARTMENT OF THE 
growth per branch on the sodded trees was 3.4 inches; tilled 
trees, 6.7 inches, the tilled trees making twice the growth made 
by those on sod. | 
The foliage of a tree is as ready a test and as delicate a one 
to determine health as the pulse is to a human being. The 
tell-tale tints of the leaves alone would convince even the most 
skeptical of the superior vigor and health of the tilled trees in 
this experiment but the size of leaves, amount of foliage, 
weight of foliage, total leaf area and length of time the leaves 
remain on the tree, all prove tillage the better method of 
orchard management to obtain health and vigor of tree. 
Liebig’s “law of the minimum,” according to which the yield 
of a given crop will be limited by the amount of one particular 
constituent of food, if applied to all the factors affecting the 
trees in this orchard will show that one factor alone is quite 
sufficient to account for-the differences noted — namely, the 
supply of water. 
The results of 128 determinations of moisture in the top foot 
of soil show that in the 2,000 tons comprising the upper layer 
in an acre there were in the sod plat at any time from June to 
September 144.4 tons of water; in the tilled plat, 239.8 tons, or 
a difference of 95.4 tons, or 724 barrels or 23,485 gallons. These 
figures substantiate what is held by all soil authorities, that in 
this climate, conserve it and save as best you can, the seasonal 
rainfall on the average soil is not more than sufficient for the 
best development of any one crop; indeed it is seldom sufficient 
for one crop. If then, we divide the rainfall between two crops, 
grass and apples, both must suffer. 
A brief financial statement regarding this experiment may 
be of interest since the claim is so often made that sod-mulch 
method is cheaper than tillage. The average cost per acre of 
the two methods of management were: for the sod, $17.92; 
tillage, $24.47; a difference of $6.55 per acre in favor of the 
sod-mulch. But the cost per barrel of apples, counting rental 
of land, was $1.65 for the tilled plat and $2.15 for the sod plat, 
$.50 per barrel in favor of tillage. It is not cheap methods that 
