Paoc 1 6 



BETTER FRUIT 



February 



Selling your Salvation 



You must sell 

 at a profit 

 or 

 quit the game 



mdw 



4ITH0GIIAPH> 



Well dressed 



packeges 



attract 



attention 



Induce sales 



OUR ATTRACTIVE LABELS 

 ARE YOUR SILENT SALESMEN 



SCHMIDT LITHOGRAPH CO. 



SAN FRANCISCO. 



Los Angeles, Fresno, Portland, Seattle, Salt Lake City 



get for our fruit in the next few years. 

 We must liope for llie tjest but be pre- 

 jjarecl for ttie worst. On our orctiard 

 iarm.s we must start t)uil(ling up a bet- 

 ter and more permanent agriculture, an 

 agriculture based upon more economic 

 principles. I mean by this that we can 

 no longer afford to take crop after crop 

 from our orchards without doing some- 

 thing toward improving or at least 

 maintaining proper soil conditions. We 

 can no longer afford to go to town and 

 buy our meat, butter, eggs and garden 

 produce, as has been largely the prac- 

 tice in the past. By building a better 

 agriculture, then, I mean maintaining 

 and improving soil conditions, main- 

 taining and improving crop production, 

 both as to (piantity and quality, and 

 living better and more economically 

 on our orchard farms. 



If one will take a ride through the 

 older orchard sections during the sum- 

 mer time he can see here and there 

 orchards in which the trees show 

 small, yellowish and sparse foliage, a 

 red or yellowish bark, and probably a 

 light crop of small apples. These are 

 symptoms of improper nourishment or 

 partial starvation. This condition may 

 be brought about by any one of a num- 

 ber of different causes, but whatever 

 the cause the effect is partial starva- 

 tion. In some cases it may be due to 

 lack of water, but since all plant food 

 must be taken up in the form of solu- 

 tion lack of water is starvation. In a 

 light sandy soil il may be due to too 

 much w-afer, in which case the soluble 

 elements of plant food are leached 

 away before they can be utilized by 

 the tree roots. II may be due to an 

 impoverished soil, but there are com- 

 paratively few of our orchard soils but 

 what contain sudieient i)lanl food to 

 properly nourisli the trees if the ele- 

 ments of plant food that are in the 



soil are made available to the trees. 

 This starved appearance is most fre- 

 quently due to the fact that the ele- 

 ments of plant food which are in the 

 soil in abundance are, on account of 

 the improper physical condition of the 

 soil, not made available to the tree or 

 plant. 



An ideal apple soil is a heavy rich 

 loam. But this type of soil as well as 

 other types, if clean cultivated for a 

 period of years, becomes void of humus 

 or organic matter. The soil iiarticlcs 

 then readily run together. In this con- 

 dition the soil breaks up cloddy. II 

 puddles easily when wet. It does not 

 take water readilx'. In fact a strata 

 just beneath the surface cultivation 

 will develop which is almost imper- 

 vious to water and which is almost as 

 hard as hardpan. A soil in this physical 

 condition, though it may be ever so 

 rich in the elements of plant food, will 

 not release or make available to the 

 tree plant food in sufTicient quantities 

 to properly nourish the tree. This con- 

 dition of soil has been brou.ght about 

 by the continuous burning up and 

 almost continuous exhaustion of the 

 humus or organic matter in the soil. 

 This is the result of continued clean 

 cultivation without the addition of 

 organic mailer to the soil. The point 

 that I want to bring out most forcibly 

 here is that oin- soil troubles are mostly 

 physical rather than chemical, and that 

 the addition of chemicals in the form 

 of chemical or cotnmercial fertilizers 

 can do little toward the permanent 

 upbuilding of our soil conditions. Fur- 

 thermore, without an adequate supply 

 of humus we do not get full benefit 

 of whatever chemical fertilizers we 

 may use. 



We may temporarily benefit a cro|) 

 or oui' trees by deep plowing or by 

 dynamiting. By such means the soil 



is temporarily put in heller shape to 

 absorb water. But such results can he 

 only temporary, for without organic 

 matter in the soil to hold the soil par- 

 ticles apart the soil will soon run to- 

 gether and become as compact and as 

 impervious to water as before. To 

 build up and maintain a constant 

 supply of available |)lant food with the 

 least possible waste we must have a 

 goodly supply of humus in the soil. 

 Hunnis is decaying vegetation or 

 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 known as 

 humic acitls are formed. These weak 

 acids have a dissolving effect upon the 

 soil particles and change the otherwise 

 unavailable elements of plant food into 

 available form. Humus holds the soil 

 particles apart and prevents the soil 

 from becoming hard and compact. 



Now we come to a discussion of cor- 

 recting the physical conditions of the 

 soil, a discussion of supplying humus 

 in the best and most economical way. 

 We all know something of the benefits 

 of barnyard manure. Barnyard manure 



SiMPSON 



H" BANKBLDO. 

 PORTLAND. OREGON. 



True -to -Name 



Free 



From Pests 



That's what you want when you plant 



trees. That's what you get when you 



order the 



O. & F. Unxld Brand 



Everything in Fruit Trees 



AND A FULL LINE OF 



Flowering Shrubs, Roses, Shade 

 and Ornamental Trees 



Get our prices before planting. 



Largest stock in the Northwest. 



All grown on virgin soil. 



Special prices on 



orders for orchard planting. 



Ornamental & Fruit 

 Nursery Co. 



Box 217 K WAPATO, WASH. 



Catalog will be mailed tree iipnn reciufst. 

 AGENTS ALWAYS WANTED 



WHEN WRITING ADVERTISERS MENTION BETTER FRUIT 



