IJs'DIANA HOKTICUJ/rUBAL SOCIETY. 237 



SPRAYING AND SPRAYING MIXTURES. 



BY S. H. FULTON, MICHIGAN. 



No copy obtained. 



THE APPLE AND HOW TO GROW IT. 



The Soil. 



BY JOE A. BURTON. 



Soil can scarcely be too rich for an apple orchard. Our richest soils 

 are generally bad for apples. Our best apple lands are generally very thin. 

 They are not good because they are poor, neither are the rich soils bad 

 because they are rich. It is a matter of texture and location. Other things 

 being equal, elevated land is best. By this we do not mean far above 

 sea level, nor mountainous, but just a little above adjacent land. Of all 

 soils, the alluvial drift is the worst. Sandy soil might be classed next. The 

 very best of all is elevated clay formed by the decay of the native rocks. 

 Soil is more than location. Heavy clay in the valley is better than drift 

 loam on the hilltop. Hence, in central Indiana, the best apple lands are 

 the heavy clay swamps. Apple trees winter-kill in the central part of our 

 State more than in the southern on account of the nature of the soil, rather 

 than by a greater degree of cold. Apples on heavy clay are very little 

 affected by drought, whether cultivated or not. Hence, in a season like 

 this, we have fine apples on our thin clay lands, while our ordinary farm 

 crops are nearly destroyed. Because these thin clay lands have an apt- 

 ness for producing apples, we must not infer they can continue to yield 

 tine crops without being fed. My father-in-law was an expert in farm 

 work, but in the last thirty years of his life could do nothing for lack 

 of physical strength. So these lands can not 5'ield their crops for lack of 

 phosphoric acid and nitrogen. They have abundance of potash. Without 

 fertilizers they will yield a few fine crops, then both the tree and fruit 

 grow smaller, the limbs die, and failure is the result. Not only are the 

 trees hardier and healthier on the heavy clay soils, but the fruit in every 

 way is better, larger, keeps better, smoother, better color, and better 

 quality. Why these lands have such an aptitude for apples is not known— 

 possibly on account of the great amount of potash in the clay. 



