412 State Horticultural Society. 



periority of the sulphate over the muriate as a source of potash. The tree 

 girth is considerably greater in tlic case of those trees receiving a combi- 

 nation of sulphate of potash and bone meal than in the case of those trees 

 receiving a muriate of potash and a similar amount of bone meal. It is 

 also important to note that the trees receiving the sulphate of potash have 

 borne the largest quantity of fruit of any in the experiment. The fruit 

 on the plot receiving 20,000 pounds of barnyard manure per acre each 

 year is in general rather coarse and slightly inferior both in quality 

 and in appearance, while the fruit on the plot receiving wood ashes 

 is superior in appearance and quality to all other methods of treatment. 

 The fruit on the plot receiving the sulphate of potash and bone meal 

 is considerably superior in appearance to that on the plot receiving the 

 muriate, and ranks next in this respect to the fruit grown from wood 

 ashes." 



All things considered, wood ashes, unleached, applied at the rate 

 of from 600 to 1000 per acre, will be as good a form of potash as can 

 be found, provided the cost per pound of actual potash in this form 

 is not more than that of the sulphate. Recently some of the large 

 packers have used large quantities of wood in curing their meats, leav- 

 ing a high grade wood ash available for a fertilizer at a reasonable 

 price. When this is available and the cost is not too great it is to be 

 recommended. 



When a suppl}- of wood ashes is not available, I should recommend 

 a sulphate at the rate of about 2 pounds per bearing tree or 150 lbs per 

 acre. 



For the growing trees, before they come into bearing, I am inclined 

 to the opinion that the muriate would be good enough, and should be ap- 

 plied in the vicinity of the tree at a rate which would supply about 100 

 pounds of actual potash per acre, which means 200 pounds of the 

 muriate salt. 



It is claimed by many fruit growers that the use of potash as a 

 fertilizer in bearing orchards will favor the development of high color in 

 the fruit and cause the trees to hold their fruit better. In this con- 

 nection. Professor Taft, personally known to most every Missouri Hor- 

 ticulturist, writes: "The Michigan orchardists have found that the use 

 of mineral fertilizers tends to the production of fruit buds, and that the 

 flavor and color of the fruit is enhanced. In numerous instances that 

 have come to my knowledge, the difference in the amount of fruit blown 

 from the trees that have been fertilized with phosphoric acid and potash 

 in severe wind storms as compared with the amount lost from un- 



