Appendix. 251 



The trees had made a minimum growth; they needed food. Fertilizer was 

 applied at about the following rate per acre: 



Nitrate of soda 125 lbs. 



Dried blood 100 lbs. 



Acid phosphate 650 lbs. 



Muriate of potash 125 lbs. 



This makes a total of about half a ton per acre. 



Much experimental work has been done with fertilizers, but there must 

 still be much guesswork in their use. No one can tell the farmer just 

 what his land needs; the soil must give the answer. A neglected orchard 

 like this needs nitrogen. Its lack of thrift and small amount of growth 

 prove it. In well-managed orchards, with soil of ordinary fertility, 

 nitrogen can be supplied by leguminous cover crops. It can be supplied 

 in the same way in the neglected orchard, when once under way. In the 

 beginning of the improvement, nitrate of soda or stable manure will help 

 to get the growth desired. 



The second step was to plow the orchard and till the ground. Tillage 

 is manure; it will help nitrogen to bring about growth. If we wish to 

 grow apples, we cannot afford to have the tree battling with weeds or 

 with grass. The tree needs the moisture and the food; weeds and grass 

 will rob it of them. Tillage should continue frequently during early 

 summer. By midsummer wood growth should cease; tillage should then 

 stop. A cover crop sown then will protect the soil from washing and 

 add humus to it. If the crop belongs to the clover family, it will gather 

 nitrogen for next year's growth. 



All good rules have some exceptions. The best way may not be the 

 best in all cases. Sometimes it may not be best to plow the orchard. It 

 may be on a hillside which is too steep; it may be too full of rocks, or 

 something else may prevent. Two alternatives are open which will yet 

 permit good fruit. The orchard may be pastured with sheep or with hogs. 

 Hogs will plow it; sheep will not. In either case more animals should be 

 kept than the grass in the orchard will support. Grain should be fed to sup- 

 plement the grass. That brings fertility to the orchard. It also insures that 

 the grass shall not grow tall. Grass will evaporate less water if kept short. 

 The other alternative is to let the grass grow, then mow it and let it lie 

 about the trees. This system seems to contradict the idea of growth upon 

 which the system of tillage is founded, but it has a few advocates who 

 show excellent results. It insures a winter mulch and adds humus to 

 the soil, but draws heavily upon the soil moisture during early summer. 

 It is, therefore, not strange that its advocates thus far seem to be those 

 who are dealing with a wet soil or a rainy climate. 



These things alone will not produce good apples. There are enemies 

 to fight. Pruning, tillage, and manure will only make the worms happy. 

 Bugs and fungi are on the alert; war must be waged. The orchard in 

 question was sprayed with Bordeaux mixture and Paris green twice after 

 the blossoms had fallen. The Bordeaux mixture cleared the limbs of the 

 hanging lichens or "moss." The Paris green numbered the days of some 



