Winter Meeting. 387 



seasons. For example, in a very unfavorable season for growth on 

 account of dry weather, if the orchard be barren of fruit, the amount 

 of plant food taken would be very small in comparison with the amount 

 used in full fruiting and when a good growth is made. 



It should be remembered, however, that the principal amount 

 of plant food used by the tree is for the production of fruit and leaves, 

 the amount stored up in the tree in the form of wood being compara- 

 tively small. 



THE EFFECT OF FERTILITY UPON THE LIFE OF THE TREE. 



Two conditions affect the life of a tree, and especially the pro- 

 ductive life. One is the physical condition of the soil upon which it 

 grows, and the other is the amount of plant food supplied, either 

 naturally by the soil or artificially by the orchardist. 



It is a matter of common observation that fruit trees on thin 

 soils come into bearing early, exhibit a strong tendency toward fruitful- 

 ness for a comparatively short time, and die, and that trees on good 

 strong land come into bearing as a rule somewhat later, grow to much 

 greater size, and live for a very much greater number of years. It is 

 safe to say that well fed trees may have more than double the number of 

 productive years than those which are underfed usually have. This is 

 strikingly shown by the results of an experiment conducted by the New 

 Jersey Experiment Station''' with peaches, in which it was observed 

 that on the unmanured land the crops secured at end of eight years 

 were so small as to very materially reduce the average for the whole 

 productive period, while in the case of the manured land the average 

 for the entire period was not only not reduced, but very materially in- 

 creased. Thus, the crops secured from the manured trees, after those 

 receiving no manure had practically ceased to bear, were greater 

 proportionately than those secured previous to that time. That is to 

 say, that the properly fed trees were at their very height of productive- 

 ness at the time when the unmanured trees had practically ceased to 

 bear. 



In the case of an orchard that ceases to be productive at the expira- 

 tion of a twenty-year period, almost half of this period was practically 

 unproductive and was little else than a dead expense, namely, the first 

 ten years and before the trees had come into bearing ; whereas, if by more 

 judicious handling and better feeding the productiveness of this orchard 

 may be extended to thirty years, less than one-third of the total expense 

 ib for getting the tree up to the point of bearing, and two-thirds of the 

 life of the tree is productive. 



♦Voorhee§' "Fertilizers." Page 395. 



