Care of Fruit Trees. 



L SOIL DEPLETION BY OKCHAKDS. 



The following experiments have been made in order to deter- 

 mine so far as possible the amount of plant food which is taken 

 from the land by old and young apple trees and their fruit. It can 

 be well understood how difficult the problem is. Few experi- 

 menters have gleaned in this field. The condition under which 

 such investigations must be conducted are such that entire accuracy 

 can not be secured, but it is believed that the results of these experi- 

 ments may throw valuable light upon the exhaustion of orchard and 

 nursery lands ; or they may partially explain the failure of orchards 

 to produce continuously, and the cause of the unsatisfactory results 

 which are reached by the continuous cultivation of nursery stock on 

 the same land. 



On October 1, 1894, a healthy, normal-sized Wagner apple tree, 

 thirteen years from planting, about 18 to 20 feet high, having a trunk 

 7|- inches in diameter (2 feet from the ground), was selected for an 

 analysis of the leaves. A cut of it is shown in Fig, 144. The tree 

 was grown in uncultivated land, although the grass had not formed 

 a thick turf about it. The ground was naturally well drained. The 

 land near the tree was somewhat depressed and at times received 

 the wash from the land above. In former years a stone underdrain 

 had been placed in the draw and served to carry off the water 

 which issued from a small spring a few rods beyond the tree. It is 

 probable that the roots of this tree had access to an abundance of 

 moisture. The tree had been moderately pruned in past years, but 

 had borne few apples. At the time the leaves were picked, a few 

 sprouts had started from the larger limbs. They were all of the 

 present year's growth. 



The picture (Fig. 144) shows the general upright form of the tree. 

 At the present writing, October, 1895, the tree has more of a spread- 

 ing form, as it has produced five bushels of apples during the 

 present season. It bore a few apples in 1893 but none in 1894. 

 The leaves were green and fully mature when picked. The details 

 of the sapling and caring for the leaves until they reached the 



