ipiS 



BETTER FRUIT 



Page ii 



plant food, will not release or make 

 available to the tree plant food in sulli- 

 cient quantities to properly nourish the 

 tree. 



This condition of the soil has been 

 brought about by the continuous burn- 

 ing up and almost continuous exhaus- 

 tion of the organic matter in the soil. 

 This is the result of cotinued clean cul- 

 tivation without addition or organic 

 matter to the soil. The point that I 

 want to bring out most forcibly here is 

 that our soil troubles are mostly 

 physical rather than chemical, and that 

 the addition of chemical or commercial 

 fertilizers can do little toward the per- 

 manent upbuilding of our soil condi- 

 tions. Fruther, without an adequate 

 supply of humus or organic matter we 

 do not get full benefit of whatever 

 chemical fertilizer we may use. To 

 build up and maintain a constant sup- 

 ply of available plant food with the 

 least possible waste we must have hu- 

 mus or organic matter in the soil. 

 Humus is decomposed organic matter. 

 Humus acts as a sponge to not only hold 

 moisture but to hold available elements 

 of plant food. In the decomposition of 

 organic matter various weak acids arc 

 formed, known as humic acids. These 

 weaks acids have a dissolving effect 

 upon the soil particles and change the 

 otherwise unavailable elements of fer- 

 tility into available form. Humus holds 

 the soil particles apart and prevents 

 the soil from becoming hard and com- 

 pact. 



In my opinion any system of orchard- 

 ing in our semi-arid irrigated districts 

 which docs not provide for a goodly 

 supply of organic matter in the soil is 

 not a permanent or sound system of 

 orcharding. I shall not enter here into 

 any extended discussion of the differ- 

 ent methods of supplying that humus 

 any more than to say that under condi- 

 tions existing generally in our fruit 

 sections far the cheapest and most eco- 

 nomical method of supplying that hu- 

 mus, together with additional fertility, 

 is by means of cover crops. Neither is 

 it my purpose here to enter into a dis- 

 cussion of the merits and demerits of 

 the different cover crops any more than 

 to say that no other crop has yet been 

 introduced that has as much to recom- 

 mend it as an orchard cover and 

 manure crop as alfalfa. 



Alfalfa produces an immense mass of 

 vegetative matter not only above but 

 also below ground. I believe thai il is 

 unexecelled in this respect by any other 

 crop we can grow in our orchards, and 

 as is explained above il is vegetative or 

 organic matter in the soil thai we need. 

 Alfalfa is a soil renovator. It is a more 

 successful soil renovator than plow or 

 harrow, or even dynamite. No plow 

 sole Conns in an alfalfa field nor in an 

 orchard sowed to alfalfa. Alfalfa roots 

 penetrate the soil to the depth of 

 2U, 30 or 40 feet and have been known 

 to go down to a depth of 127 feet. The 

 decaying roots and side laterals of the 

 alfalfa keep the soil open and porus 

 for the penetration of air and water. 

 Alfalfa is a legume and therefore a 

 nitrogen gatherer. Il not onlj gathers 

 nitrogen from the air but it penetrates 

 the soil far below the reach of ordi- 



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nary plants, brings up other elements 

 of planl food ami makes them available 

 at the surface. II has been estimated 

 .it the New Jersey Experiment Station 



that the amounts of planl I' I gathered 



h\ ;i tesl acre of alfalfa in two years 

 were equivalent in nitrogen to 3500 

 pounds of nitrate of soda in phosphoric 

 acid lo 600 pounds of hone black super- 

 phosphate, and in potash to 1200 pounds 



of muriate of potash. This amount of 

 fertilizers before the war would cost 

 about $124, the nitrogen alone being 

 worth about $105; and Ibis was taken 

 almost entirely from the air. 'flic 

 water requirement is usually the first 

 question thai interests mosl -rowers in 

 the discussion of this subject. The 

 water requirements depend almost en- 

 Continued on page 13 



