64 AGRICULTURE OF MAINE. 



failure to properly regulate the moisture content of the soil is 

 responsible for more failures in growing apples than any other 

 one thing. Moisture content of soils has a direct correlation 

 with the cultural methods used in the orchard. Plant food may 

 be present in sufficient quantities to grow an orchard profitably 

 for a hundred or more years. Proper moisture conditions of 

 the soil are necessary to make plant food soluble and available. 

 Humus is an all important factor in handling orchard soils and 

 no apple grower should neglect this point. 



The disease and insect factor is also important and the apple 

 grower should use all his resources to bring the injury from 

 these causes down to a minimum. If an orchard has a well 

 regulated moisture supply, if it has been properly pruned, prop- 

 erly sprayed and properly cultivated, and then the trees fail to 

 do their best, then and not until then should the apple grower 

 resort to the use of commercial fertilizers. When he does use 

 commercial fertilizers, he should endeavor to ascertain what par- 

 ticular element is the one lacking. 



I believe that, in many cases, what we need is not orchard fer- 

 tilization but tree fertilization. There may be individual apple 

 trees in the orchard that are not growing right or not bearing 

 right and the grower's efforts should be directed toward these 

 individual trees rather than to the orchard as a whole. The 

 trouble may be in wet feet, leachy soil, disease, or insufficient 

 plant food. 



I believe that every grower of fruit should keep a record of 

 the individual behavior of his trees. It will require only a few 

 hours' work two or three times a year and in this way he can 

 pick out the star boarder trees. A shovelful of nitrate of soda 

 may change a sickly tree into a profitable one, or a few pounds 

 of potash may change the whole bearing qualities of a tree. 



I hope that I have been able to show you why I believe that 

 those who oppose the use of commercial fertilizers and that 

 those who advocate their use may both be right, and that they 

 may both be wrong. It all depends upon the orchard under 

 consideration. Because one man never needs the services of a 

 doctor is no argument that another man does not. Apple trees 

 are living plants and subject to the same fundamental laws of 

 nutrition as other plants. The proper application of the facts 

 may vary, but the fundamental fact remains a fact, nevertheless. 



