Specifications for Successful Fruit-Gbowing 1725 



acre, or 8 pounds of muriate per tree; (3) phosphate and muriate 

 as above and nitrate of soda and dried hlood to give 50 pounds of 

 nitrogen per acre, or 13 pounds of medium grade dried hlood and 

 3% pounds of nitrate of soda per tree. This nitrogen might also 

 be supplied in six tons of good stable manure to the acre, or 400 

 pounds per tree ; (4) this amount of stable manure should be ap- 

 plied on a fourth plat, and (5) a similar plat should be left unfer- 

 tilized for a check. This experiment is much less laborious and 

 complex than it looks, for the fertilizer combinations are built up 

 one from another and the mixing can be done and quantities 

 weighed out in winter when orchard work is not pressing. 



The fertilizers should he applied in the spring as soon as the 

 ground can be worked, spreading them about the trees over an area 

 somewhat greater than that covered by the spread of the branches. 

 Applv the manure before plowing, and the fertilizers immediately 

 after it, harrowing them in. The experiment, to be conclusive, 

 should run for several years and the crops should lie carefully 

 weighed or measured, giving due consideration to culls and wind- 

 falls. 



inter-crops 



The best modern practice permits the growing of hoed crops in 

 an orchard until the trees come into bearing. If profitable dispo- 

 sition can be made of the product, truck crops are ideal for a young- 

 orchard. Of these peas and beans take less from the soil than 

 other crops and may add a little nitrogen to it. But beside these, 

 cabbage, potatoes, cucumbers or similar crops may be grown advan- 

 tageously. Corn is the only farm crop permissible and is not as 

 desirable as any of the truck crops named. 



COVER crops 



The best modern practice insists that a cover crop be sowed at 

 the close of the season's cultivation, about August first, to be 

 plowed under the next spring. Various crops may be sown alone 

 or in combinations. The several purposes of a cover-crop — to 

 cover the ground, and add humus and nitrogen — are usually best 

 served by a combination crop. Of several that may be recom- 

 mended, this Station prefers the following : On each acre sow 

 one bushel of oats or barley and fifteen po\iiids of mammoth red 

 clover or thirty pounds of winter vetch. 



