Il6 AGRICUI^TURli OF MAINE. 



The Fisher Formula for Orchard Fertili:ser. 



Nitrate of soda 350 lbs. 



Sulphate of Ammonia 150 lbs. 



Sulphate of Potash 230 lbs. 



Acid Phosphate 220 lbs. 



Keiseret 50 lbs. 



Total 1000 lbs. 



The ingredients should be thoroughly mixed before applying. 

 Then just after the bloom, or a trifle earlier, apply around the 

 trees at the rate of five to ten pounds to each tree. 



This fertilizer seems to act first as a tonic and then as a food 

 for the trees. This seems to be what the fruit trees need — 

 something to stir them up and make them grow. Then beyond 

 all this it is little less than robbery to take crop after crop from 

 the trees without restoring anything. "Feed the trees and they 

 will feed you," someone has truly said. 



The apple crop this year has been a pleasant surprise to many 

 people. Most of us early in the season thought the summer con- 

 ditions were unfavorable at the time of bloom, so that little 

 fruit set. But when the harvest came the most of the or- 

 chards that had been well cared for were bearing fruit. Not 

 quite as much as in a full crop, but with the prevailing prices it 

 proved a profitable crop. I have asked myself many times how 

 this came about and the answers bring to the front other oppor- 

 tunities for those who have orchards, and to these your atten- 

 tion is called. The most important of these is to give the or- 

 chards at least expense — just the same as you do to the cows 

 and the pigs— all the food they can use to advantage. The ob- 

 ject is to make more and better fruit. 



The highest hill farm in my town supports a large herd of cat- 

 tle and the manure they produce the owner applies very largely 

 to his orchards every year. It is his boast, as well as his pride, 

 that the orchard bears more grass than his fields per acre and a 

 big crop of fruit besides. The fruit is good, too. The rest of 

 the farm may suflfer in consequence of this orchard treatment, 

 but he insists that two crops a year— hay and apples— are good 

 enough for him. He supplies the trees with plant food and they 



