No. 7. . DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 247 



cumulating from the muriate, or to a soil difference, cannot yet be 

 stated. It will be recalled that our results of the third year cor- 

 roborate it, in plots which compare only sulfate and muriate. 



The practical point, however, is that with such differences as these 

 existing ev^ the over cost is small, and if so desired it can be 

 readily met by a reduction in the amount applied. This would 

 be justified by our present results, which indicate that the usual 

 recommendations of potash for orchard use may be reduced to ad- 

 vantage. 



CONCLUSION 



In general, the whole question of orchard fertilization may now 

 be regarded as dependent on the limiting factor or need. The pro- 

 ductiveness of an orchard depends not on one but on a numder of 

 factors, among which are location, varieties, spraying, and other 

 care. These factors are all bound together so that improvement 

 in one may at times indirectly benefit the whole, yet in the long 

 run it is the weakest factors that control the crop and through them 

 only that it can be materially affected. This means that the use- 

 fulness of a fertilizer depends entirely on the need. Fertilization 

 is profitable, where plant food is the limiter. But where something 

 else is the first need and therefore is doing the limiting, it must 

 evidently be brought up before fertilization can have any material 

 effect. 



In the same way, it is evident that it is useless to apply potash 

 alone where nitrogen or phosphates are required. And it is also 

 probably less effective to apply any transient or quickly available 

 fertilizer much in advance of its most active seasonal need. 



The problem before the orchardist therefore is one of determin- 

 ing limiters, raising them to the level of the other factors, and there- 

 after maintaining a balanced treatment of the whole. The de- 

 termination of limiters is easy in most cases; but with plant food 

 and cultural or moisture requirements it is done with certainty 

 only by trial. 



PROFITABLE BREEDING AND FEEDING OF BEEF CATTLE 



By O. E. BRADFUTE, Xenia, Ohio 



I possibly run some chance of duplicating what I may have stated 

 at Ilarrisburg a couple of years ago with reference to beef cattle. 

 However, I would rather duplicate than fall into the error of telling 

 a different story. The one who has been successful along any line 

 is hardly able to tell a very different story in regard to that suc- 

 cess. So if any of you were present at ilarrisburg when I spoke 

 there and hear much of the same thing, you will have to content 

 yourself with hearing the same experience twice. 



