126 Bulletin 153. 



to solve these local problems for himself by means of experiment. 

 It is the custom to say that fruits need potassic fertilizers. This 

 may he true as a general statement ; but it does not follow that 

 every plantation needs them. 



JV/ijf are orchards barren f — This is one of the most difficult to 

 answer of all agricultural questions. — why so man}^ orchards are 

 unproductive year after year. There are many causes of unpro- 

 ductiveness ; and it is impossible to make an orchard 3'oung again 

 in order that it may be brought up in the way it should go. It 

 is a significant fact, however, that of many hundreds of barren 

 orchards which I have inspected, less than half a dozen had 

 received good tillage and other good care from the outset. In 

 fact, barren orchards — of properly selected varieties — which have 

 been well tilled, fertilized and otherwise well treated, are so rare 

 that it is unnecessary to consider them in this discussion. 



The most casual observer will agree that neglect is the common 

 and general cause of barrenness in orchards. Even pigs are 

 an unsatisfactory crop when they are obliged to shift for them- 

 selves. But it is the business of the experimenter to determine 

 just which element of neglect is responsible for the failure in any 

 particular case. I believe that the most general causes of bar- 

 renness are the following, being stated approximately in the order 

 of their frequency and importance: (i) lack of good tillage, 

 particularly in the first few years of the life of the plantation ; 

 (2) lack of humus and fertilizer ; (3) uncongenial soils and 

 sites ; (4) lack of systematic annual pruning ; (5) lack of spray- 

 ing and of attention to borers and other pests ; (6) bad selection 

 of varieties ; (7) trees propagated from unfruitful stock. 



Seasons var^^ Some years are good fruit years : in those 3'ears 

 most orchards bear. In fact, the}' are likeU^ to overbear ; the 

 trees are thereby depleted, and a bad 3^ear follows : the con- 

 sequences are " bearing years" and "off 3'ears." The longer 

 the conditions are allowed to dictate what the crops shall be, the 

 more difficult it is to bring the plantation into a habit of annual 

 bearing. I suspect that half the mature barren orchards of the 

 State could not be made profitable by au}^ line of treatment. 

 They have had their own way too long. In most cases of barren 



