Vermont State Horticultueal Society 63 



to be preferred over the others, viewed from a theoretical stand- 

 point. As I remarked at the outset, the orchardist's needs do not 

 appear to be met by any brand now licensed for sale in Vermont, 

 which leads me to believe that the orchardist makes so small a 

 call on the commercial fertilizer companies for goods of this 

 class that it is not worth their while to license them. The 

 orchardist who desires to use a ready made fertilizer will do 

 well to correspond with some of the manufacturers and buy 

 special goods direct from them for his own use. The State law 

 does not prevent one from buying any fertilizer whether licensed 

 or unlicensed, provided it is for his own use and not to sell to 

 others. The Station bulletin gives a list of dealers who will 

 quote prices and suggest brands. The Station will gladly ad- 

 vise any who desire further information touching these matters. 



VI. It is my judgment that the orchardist who uses any 

 material quantity of commercial fertilizers for orchard purposes 

 may well consider the purchase of crude stock and mixing this 

 acording to his own needs. The following excerpts from bulle- 

 tin ii6 cited at the outset of this address give statements as to 

 formulas. 



Given a soil which is in good mechanical condition, of 

 open texture, well drained, fairly well supplied naturally with 

 plant food — if of limestone origin so much the better — and 

 orcharding may be expected to succeed with less attention to 

 fertilization than must needs be paid if success is sought on 

 soil not thus constituted. Yet in any case, whether the soil is 

 good, medium or poor, adequate fertilization may be expected 

 to enhance the quality of the product as well as increase its 

 quality. 



The practice of orcharding involves continuous cropping, 

 growing the tree for years and then growing fruit and tree at 

 the same time. The long life of trees enable them to use rela- 

 tively slow forms of plant food, but the great draft which large 

 crops make calls for specific feeding at specific times to meet the 

 large demand. During the growing period of trees nitrogen is 

 particularly drawn upon ; yet excess may force wood growth too 

 late in the fall so that it does not "harden oft*,'' but winter kills. 

 Later in the tree life soluble nitrogen tends to hinder fruit ripen- 



ing- 



Voorhees suggests for fruit trees in general two basic 

 formulas: (a) ec[ual parts by weight of ground bone, acid phos- 

 phate and muriate of potash; (b) one and a half parts of ground 

 bone to one of muriate of potash. These would furnish on the 

 lOO-pound basis : 



