388 ^ State Horticultural Society. 



Above all is it important to have a uniform supply of available 

 food for the orchard. Fat years alternating with lean years are very 

 much more to be avoided than either poverty or riches as a steady diet. 

 All radical changes in the soil condition, either with respect to the 

 supply of plant food or the physical characteristics, should be carefully 

 avoided. Practically all of the bad effects of overfeeding have come 

 from the sudden change from extreme poverty to a surplus of food. 

 It is a matter of common observation that trees in a poultry yard, when 

 the land is manured heavily every year or lies near a dry earth closet, or 

 adjoining a barnyard, when the supply of available plant food is exces- 

 sive but regular, produce enormous crops and live to good ages. 



THE SOIL. 



So much has been said about the type of soil best suited to fruit 

 that little need here be added. Naturally, the soil upon which the 

 orchard is being grown will have much to do with the methods of 

 fertilization and general cropping and cultivation. So also will the 

 previous treatment of this land have an important bearing upon these 

 matters. 



If we could determine accurately the amount of available plant food 

 in a soil and the amount that would be rendered available each year, 

 :and then know the amount required by the crops grown on the land, 

 it would be an easy matter to strike a balance and determine exactly 

 what amounts and kinds of food it would be necessary to supply arti- 

 fically to produce a normal crop. While we are able to say with a fair 

 degree of accuracy what amounts are required by the growing and 

 bearing trees per year, we do not yet know and cannot, unfortunately, 

 yet determine how much of this the soil may be relied upon to supply. 

 It is comparatively easy to determine the aggregate amount of plant 

 food in a given soil, but to say how much of this an apple tree or a crop 

 of corn or wheat will be able to take out or utilize this year or next year, 

 is a totally dift'erent matter, and, unfortunately, the agricultural chemist 

 has not yet been able even to approximate the solution of this important 

 matter. 



AMOUNT OF PLANT FOOD IN A SOIL. 



To illustrate this point, the following tables show the total amount 

 of the more important elements of plant food contained in an acre of 

 three types of Missouri soils, one a good corn and wheat land, capable 

 in favorable seasons of producing 60 to 70 bushels of corn and 30 to 

 35 bushels of wheat, another a red limestone clay, which has been con- 



