No. 6. DEPARTMENT OP AGRICULTURE. 209 



practical of all methods of obtaiuiug the kuowledge they require — 

 that of ascertaining- for themselves by direct trial what treatment 

 of their crops is the best. Special training, no doubt, is necessary 

 for the execution of elaborate experiments, and special knowledge 

 is necessary to know how far the results can be generalized, so as 

 to be applicable to other land and circumstances; but the case is 

 quite ditlerent when a grower has only to ascertain what succeeds 

 best on his own land. Perhaps the oft-repeated and more often mis- 

 taken cry of antagonism between theory and practice is the reason 

 why growers are so prejudiced against experiments, mistaking ex- 

 periment for theory, and the blind observation of tradition for prac- 

 tice. The spirit of investigation, when properly conducted, can never 

 fail to advantage the investigators, and if this spirit could but be 

 developed amongst fruit growers we would soon have a mass of 

 observation, which, when properly digested, would be of incalculable 

 benefit to the whole industry." 



This was written by one who had experimented for ten years, only 

 to get disappointing results. But negative results are sometimes 

 as valuable practically as positive ones, and he was going ahead un- 

 daunted. 



Now, you may question whether this experimenting can be done. 

 There is no doubt about it; much of it is being done already. It is 

 surprising, when one gets over this State, to find how many of 

 these things are being done in a way by the men in the orchards. 

 The man with the Salway peach, of whom I have told you, is an il- 

 lustration of this class of men. He has set aside a part of his orchard 

 and is experimenting with the different methods, asking his orchard 

 which is the best. It will tell in time, and its answer will be un- 

 doubtedly correct for that orchard. Unfortunately, in planning his 

 experiment, he overlooked the one factor that will cloud his results. 

 He is on the right track, but needs help. That is what the Experi- 

 ment Station is proposing to give. Let us know what your problems 

 are and we shall try to offer solutions, or to help plan experiments 

 that will solve them. In our work at the State College we are now 

 undertaking a longer and more difficult experiment than is usual 

 among experimenters. Its object is to study the fundamentals of 

 apple culture. I can give you some idea of it by means of this 

 chart. 



The first two charts illustrate the fertilizer tost. It covers four 

 to eight acres, and involves ten treatments and six checks. This 

 experiment is expected to show us what fertilizers are needed in a 

 given soil, and the effect of the different plant foods on the trees 

 and fruit, so that later we may be able to determine the needs of a 

 tree by its appearance. We already know that orchards demand con- 

 siderable amounts of plant food. For example, if we can rely on 

 the chemical analyses that have been made, an acre of bearing apple 

 orchard requires about: 



51.5 lbs. nitrogen. 

 14 lbs. phosphorus. 

 55 lbs. potash. 

 57 lbs. lime. 

 23 lbs. magnesia. 



It is interesting to note the large amounts of lime and magnesia 



14—6—1907. 



