264 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



While stable manure is desirable for young trees, it contains such an 

 excess of nitrogen that if used by bearing trees it should be supplemented 

 by some form of potash and phosphoric acid. While it is less likely to 

 be injurious to apple orchards than to some of the more tender fruits, the 

 excessive use of stable manure, especially if it is in an undecomposed 

 form, is likely to cause a rank, late growth that may be injured by the 

 winter. Nitrogenous manures also tend to promote growth of stem and 

 leaf and this will be at the expense of the fruit. 



While stable manure, then, can be used to advantage upon poor soils for 

 young trees, it should be used somewhat sparingly for bearing orchards 

 that are growing in soils fairly rich in plant food. There are, however, 

 few soils where trees will be injured by stable manure, and one need not 

 hesitate to make applications up to thirty or forty loads of stable manure 

 per acre, where the trees have been grown for years without manure. 



Of the mineral manures, wood ashes will be found to be the cheapest 

 source of potash and they also supply some phosphoric acid. Their value 

 will depend upon the kind of wood from which they were obtained, the 

 amount of foreign matter they contain, and the extent, if any, to which 

 they have been leached. Hard-wood ashes are worth perhaps one half 

 more, pound for pound, than those from soft wood and, while no definite 

 rule can be given that will fix the value of leached ashes, it is seldom safe 

 to count them as more than one third as valuable as unleached ashes. 



An average sample of unleached ashes should contain about five per 

 cent, of potash and one and one half of phosphoric acid. This will make 

 a bushel of ashes worth about ten to fifteen cents, according to the amount 

 of water they contain, as compared with what chemical manures will cost. 

 At this valuation they will be worth from five to six dollars per ton, 

 although ashes of a known high analysis might be worth nearly twice as 

 much. 



For bearing orchards, from fifty to one hundred bushels per acre can 

 generally be used to advantage, with smaller amounts for young trees. 

 While the trees are quite small one peck to each will generally be suffi- 

 cient. In case soft-wood ashes or those that have been leached are used 

 the amount should be increased in proportion. 



Besides their value in supplying plant food, wood ashes have a physical 

 effect upon light soils that is of value. The carbonates of potash and soda 

 contained in wood ashes tend to bind together the particles of soil and 

 make it more compact. While this is of value upon sand, it has the 

 reverse effect upon very heavy soils, especially if a considerable excess of 

 ashes is applied. 



In sections where wood ashes can not be readily obtained, the German 

 potash salts can be used with profit. They can be obtained either as sul- 

 phates or muriates, and generally contain about fifty per cent, of potash. 



The price in New York is from forty to forty-five dollars per ton. As 

 one ton of potash salts contains as much potash as ten tons of wood ashes, 

 it can be seen that they will be much cheaper to transport and to apply. 

 For young trees one to two pounds will be sufficient, while two to four 

 hundred pounds per acre will be ample for bearing orchards. 



Potash has the effect of promoting a firm growth of wood which is favor- 

 able to the production of fruit buds, and renders the trees less likely to 

 winter-kill. 



While phosphoric acid can be obtained from a number of sources, for 

 trees it is best to use ground bone. This can be obtained at about twenty- 



