Secretary's Budget. 397 



eight ; onions (sets), sixty-nine. The advice given was to broad- 

 cast all the fertilizer or manure you can, and as little in the hill as 

 possible. On a river bottom or banked meadow with soil ten feet 

 deep, a deposit of vegetable matter considered inexhaustible — only 

 requiring an occasional dressing of lime to produce seventy-five 

 bushels of corn per acre, or heavy crops of grass — an acre was 

 tried with late cabbage, using one ton of fertilizer broadcast ; re- 

 sult a heavy crop, 95 per cent, heading. Another acre had the 

 same quantity of fertilizer applied in the row ; the crop of leaves 

 was immense, covering the ground, with not over thirty per cent 

 heading. A few rows adjoining, without fertilizer, were little 

 better than a failure, becoming a prey to lice, while none of these 

 insects were to be found on the broadcast portion. He thus learned 

 a lesson in application of manure ; also that our richest soils are 

 often lacking in some elements of fertility. — N. Y. Tribune. 



MANURING THE ORCHARD. 



That the orchard should be kept well manured is at the present 

 time very generally admitted ; but what is the cheapest and best 

 material to apply is as yet unsettled. 



Those who have had an opportunity to test the different fertil- 

 izers, are as a rule opposed to the application of large quantities of 

 fresh stable manure, especially to the pear orchard, but if such 

 manure is to be applied it should be applied in the autumn. 



That bearing trees consume considerable quantities of both 

 |)hosphates and potash is conceded by all, and that the application 

 of large quantities of manure rich in nitrogen is not only not 

 necessary, but positively injurious, is the opinion of some very 

 intelligent orchardists. We have seen orchards very much im- 

 proved by appljang wood ashes in considerable quantities, but not 

 as much as when fertilized with a moderate quantity of ground 

 bone, which would seem to imply that the phosphate is needed the 

 most. 



Some orchardists apply ground bone and wood ashes, or 

 muriate of potash, mixed with good success. Fifty bushels of ashes, 

 and 1,000 pounds of ground bone, makes a very liberal dressing 

 for an acre of land, and will last a number of years. When wood 

 ashes cannot be obtained, 500 pounds of muriate of potash may be 

 used in its place. 



When barn manure is to be used, if only half the usual quan- 

 tity be applied, and the same value of ground bone be applied with 

 it, the result will be much more satisfactory, than if all manure be 



