118 VERMONT AGRICULTURAL REPORT. 



coincidently. Another marked difference between the two classes 

 of cropping is to be found in the fact that the farmer has to do 

 with the rotation of crops while the horticulturalist has to do 

 with a continuous crop. The latter thus loses the important ad- 

 vantage which the farmer is able to secure from rotation. 

 Gradual and continuous growth is what is wanted. This would 

 appear to be well provided for by a basal fertilizer of one part 

 each of ground bone, acid phosphate and muriate of potash, or 

 perhaps one and one-half parts of ground bone and one part of 

 muriate. To this should be added at special times and seasons 

 moderate amounts of quickly available plant food. Consider- 

 able amounts of nitrogen are to be discouraged, as they tend to 

 cause too large a growth of wood, non-maturity, non-ripening 

 and a greater likelihood of winter killing. As regards apples, 

 in which a large share of Vermont horticulturists are interested, 

 it may be remarked that an apple orchard takes from the soil 

 more than does an ordinary wheat crop. An interesting experi- 

 ment made by the Cornell Experiment Station some years ago 

 showed that an acre carrying thirty-five trees, bearing for twenty 

 years an average of fifteen bushels to the tree, lost twice as 

 much nitrogen, one and one-half times as much phosphoric acid 

 and three times as much potash as did a soil which grew twenty 

 average crops of wheat. The use of either of the basal mix- 

 tures cited a few moments ago in amounts of four hundred 

 pounds upwards a year would more than replenish this draft and 

 keep the land in good heart. 



The fertilization of the small fruits, such as berries and 

 the like, should be carried out in much the same way as the 

 larger ones, except that because of their nature a somewhat 

 more available plant food is needed and in perhaps larger 

 amounts. The general underlying ideas, however, are the 

 same. 



No one can say off hand whether it will always pay to use 

 fertilizers in horticulture. There are too many conditions com- 

 ing in to render the matter an absolute certainty, just as is the 

 case in ordinary farming. With some, one method of fertiliza- 

 tion or one fertilizer will succeed where it would not with others, 

 the reasons being, perhaps, that nature helps the one where it 

 does not the other, owing to changes in conditions. It is 

 thought, however, that, given a fairly good range of condi- 

 tions, fertilizers wisely chosen in horticulture may be as helpful 

 as in the usual branches of farming. 



