102 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



JVIr. Morrill: I think so; I would mention Mr. Gebhart. 



Mr. W. S. Gebhart: I think I have 2,560, about 2,000 in bearing. 



Mr. Morrill: I know a gentleman who set 5,000 last spring, and there 

 are to be 4,000 added next spring, near Watervliet, Berrien county, 

 Mr. R. H. Sherwood. 



Mr. Gebhart: Those varieties are all of the European type. I have 

 some 12 or 15 varieties which I shall take up or graft over — I have been 

 grafting them for the last sixteen years. They are not good here. « 



Mr. Morrill: Mr. Sherwood last spring bought and set 13,000 peach, 

 pear, and i)lum trees. He has bought 19,000 for next spring. He is 

 in a fair way to have quite an orchard. He is a good, thorough man, too. 



Mr. Rice: I don't want this county to take all the honors. I am 

 in the end of "the thumb," and there are some extensive plum orchards 

 there. One man set out 4,000 apples and plums. 



What is the best treatment for trees set out two years? 



Mr, Gebhart: I have tried nothing more than barnyard manure for 

 fertilizing. 



Mr. Reid: The question is whether to use any other fertilizer with 

 bone. The gentleman asking the question said he jjut on barnyard 

 manure and turned it under, but the soil was poor, and he thought 

 this spring he must do something more; and he wondered if he must use 

 commercial fertilizers. 



Mr. Morrill: Bone meal in itself is not a complete fertilizer. It 

 requires the addition or presence of potash to become a complete fer- 

 tilizer. Potash must either be present in the soil or be added to it. 

 Bone meal is principally phosphoric acid with a small percentage of 

 ammonia, or nitrogen calculated as ammonia, and that is sufficient for 

 fruit, so far as the ammonia is concerned. But potash, if not already 

 present in the soil, must be added. If the soil needs potash, put it on in 

 wood ashes. 



Mr. Brassington: Why would you give anything, except to produce 

 wood growth, to a plum tree two years old? 



Mr. Morrill: You must have all three of those elements to produce 

 anything. 



Q. Wouldn't a manure containing more nitrogen be better? A. It 

 will make a more rapid, but a more tender, wood growth. It is a bad 

 practice to push any tree too hard with nitrogen. 



Judge Russell: This gentleman has set out a plum orchard, and his 

 land is so poor that he has not been able to make his trees grow. I 

 think he would better go out of the business there. 



In applying wood ashes and bone meal to raspberries and straicberries, would 

 you sow broadcast or apply it near the plants in less quantities, and how much 

 should be used per acre in a young and bearing plantationf 



Mr. Morrill called for. 



Mr. Morrill: This is not my evening, entirely, but that question 

 brings out one point to which there should be a little attention paid. 

 He suggests the placing of fertilizer near the plant; or, rather, asks 

 the question, whether it should be spread broadcast or placed near the 

 plant. Now, we ought all to begin to get some idea of the develop- 



