234: 



Bi t keau of Farmers' Institutes. 



Apples. 



p t ppnt Pounds for Pounds of different Pounds of different 

 ler cent. one acre materials for one acre, materials for one tree 



Nitrogen 



Available phos- 

 phoric acid 



Potash 



2 8 to 16 25 to 50 pounds nitrate 



of soia; 40 to 80 

 pounds dried blood. 



8 3 Mo 60 200 to 400 pounds dis- 

 solved rock. 



12 50 to 100 100 to 200 pounds muri- 

 ate of potash, or 1,000 

 to 2,000 pounds wood 

 ashes. 



Yi to 1 pound nitrate of 

 soda; % to Impounds 

 dried b.o^d. 



4 to 8 pounds dissolved 

 rock. 



2 to 4 pounds muriate 

 of p tnsh, or 20 to 40 

 pounds wood ashes. 



Suggestions. — The growing of apples and similar fruits is a 

 case of continuous cropping of the same character on the same soil 

 and is thereby attended with greater exhaustion of plant food than 

 where rotations can be practical. The amount of plant food to 

 be applied and the age when such feeding should begin must de- 

 pend upon the soil. On soils naturally good, feeding the trees 

 should begin as soon as the trees commence bearing. On poor 

 soils the largest quantities given above should accompany the set- 

 ting of the trees, and then the smaller quantities be added every 

 year. On poor and light soils, green manuring can be earned on 

 advantageously for a while. Whenever green manuring is used, 

 the crop should be turned under early in the spring. On soils in 

 good condition, green manuring should not be practiced too con- 

 tinuously. Overfeeding fruit trees with nitrogen must be care- 

 fully avoided, as this tends to produce excessive growth of wood, 

 too succulent in character to be hardy, and it also seriously inter- 

 feres with fruit production. 



As the roots of the tree feed through a long-growing season, 

 those forms of plant food can often be used which become avail- 

 able gradually. In place of the mixture given above, one can use 

 the following: 



One hundred pounds cotton seed meal. 



One hundred pounds fine bone-meal. 



One hundred pounds dissolved rock. 



One hundred pounds muriate of potash. 



In applying plant food annually to fruit trees, it should be put 

 on early in the spring and plowed in. It should be remembered 

 that the feeding roots are situated in the lower layers of the soil, 

 and the plant food should, therefore, be placed as near the roots 

 as practicable, especially with young trees. If plant food that is 



