Abstract
THE fifth report on the Woburn Fruit Farm, by the Duke of Bedford and Mr. Spencer U. Pickering, F.R.S., contains a very useful summary of the results of ten years' experiments and observations on apple-trees. The conclusions arrived at are based on measurements of leaves, trees, and fruits, and also on weighings of the fruit. The average size of the leaf of the tree seems gradually to diminish with age, and there is a similar but less marked tendency in the fruit. The experiments indicate no advantage from heavy thinning of the fruit, for the size was not increased; hard pruning proved unprofitable, unpruned trees were three times more productive than those heavily pruned; summer pruning was found not to be desirable, and even moderate root pruning was found to injure the trees. Apple-trees transplanted at 2–3 years old were found to grow better than either younger or older plants.
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MIDDLETON, T. The Woburn Experimental Fruit Farm . Nature 72, 461 (1905). https://doi.org/10.1038/072461a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/072461a0