MiscelJcneons. . 355 



trees have passed their sixth summer ; also the grape vines. Now for the 

 income : 141 pear trees, past their sixth summer, have yielded $76 ; 32 cher- 

 ries, same age, have yielded $2.25 ; 24 plums, of same age, yielded $21 ; 

 58 apple trees, four years old, have borne one apple ; 75 peach trees, four 

 years old, have borne three peaches ; thus 330 fruit trees, 'of bearing age, 

 have yielded in the past six years $99.25 worth of fruit. (The apple 

 * would not be considered of bearing age at four years.) 



Now for the vine fruits : Of 383 grape vines, all told, 308 had 

 proper care; 75 were subject to almost total extinction by chickens, so we 

 will estimate 308 vines, all six years old, have yielded in four seasons 

 $1,126 in fruit. There bavc been bought and set 7,350 strawberry plants, 

 and the income Trom them has been $116.45. '1 li<-'y have been grown be- 

 tween the fruit trees. We also grow melons between our young trees, 

 and during the past two years we have sold $[99-37 worth of melons. 

 To sum up, will say : 330 fruit trees, six years old, have yielded $99.25 • 

 308 grape vines, six years old. have yielded $1,126; 7,350 strawberry 

 plants yielded in two crops $116.45; one acre in melons yielded in 

 two seasons $199.37; total yield from the tree and vine fruits, with 

 berries and melons grown between, in past four years is $1,541.07. 

 Considering that we are chicken fanciers, and are only playing with fruit, 

 this is not so bad. Fruit used in the family and given away is not taken 

 into account. We hope for a full crop of fruit next year. 



Farmington, Mo. F. W. Geer. 



SOIL MOISTURE NECESSARY TO FERTILITY. 

 (J. J. Edgerton, Iowa Experiment Station.) 



In referring to the sale of crops from the farm it is customary to 

 .^peak of selling so many pounds of plant food that should be returned to 

 the soil, as though this were the only evil resulting from this practice. 

 This evil is, however, very small compared with others that result from 

 the continual production and sale of grain crops. For when we con- 

 sider that for every pound of mineral matter removed from the soil by a 

 crop of grain, from five to seven pounds are lost through the percolating 

 waters, we can readily see that the return to the soil of all the plant food 

 taken up by the crop would only replace from 15 to 20 per cent, of what 

 had been removed therefrom during that season. You may well ask what 

 supplies this enormous waste. The answer is very simple and to find it 

 we have but to study nature's methods of soil formation. 



All of our soils have originated from the rock masses of the earth's 

 surface. One of the chief agents in the decomposition of these rocks was 



