March, 1920 



BETTER FRUIT 



Page 7 



Commercial Fertilizers for the Orchard and Garden 



THE increased cost of orchard and 

 garden operations during the past 

 four years and the world-wide de- 

 mand for increased production of food 

 compels fruit men and gardeners to 

 avail themselves of every possible op- 

 portunity to increase crop production 

 to the maximum without seriously in- 

 creasing the amount of labor necessary 

 to produce additional crops, and at the 

 same time not materially increase the 

 cost of production. 



Orchard and garden operations that 

 ■will require an unusual increase in la- 

 bor cannot be favorably looked upon 

 by farmer folk this year. Increased 

 production by other means than by in- 

 creasing the number of laborers for the 

 small farm must be the solution of the 

 problem. 



One or both of the following methods 

 can be used to advantage in solving the 

 problem. One is the use of power ma- 

 chinery or larger teams and the other 

 is the use of commercial fertilizers. 



The use of tractors or larger teams in 

 orchard work will reduce the man la- 

 bor to the minimum and in some cases 

 one man will be able to do the work 

 ordinarily done by several men and 

 thus will increased production be pos- 

 sible by means of better and more thor- 

 ough soil tillage and more timely oper- 

 ations. This can be worked to advant- 

 age in many gardens and orchards in 

 the Pacific Northwest and especially in 

 some of the larger orchards where cul- 

 tivation has never been brought up to 

 the highest possible practical degree. 

 However, the greatest opportunity for 

 increasing production at a minimum in- 

 crease in cost and labor for the gar- 

 dener and fruit grower lies in the use 

 of commercial fertilizers. 



The fruit growers and farmers of the 

 West have long depended upon the plant 

 food nature so abundantly gave them 

 and entirely too many have failed to 

 recognize the unmistakable signs of de- 

 pleting soils and unprofitable crops. 



Clean cultivation and dust mulches 

 while excellent for the conservation of 

 moisture plays havoc with humus and 

 plant foods. 



An average sized crop of fruit is more 

 injurious to the soil than an average 

 crop of wheat, in that while it does not 

 necessarily take out more plant food, it 

 leaves the soil exposed to the burning 

 action of the sun during a long period 

 of the season. 



A few years ago our college special- 

 ists told us that there was enough plant 

 food of certain kinds to produce bumper 

 crops for the next century or two but 

 that certain other plant foods must be 

 fostered and conserved in every pos- 

 sible way or it would be impossible for 

 us to maintain our present high stand- 

 ard of yields. Fortunately or otherwise 

 this condition has already appeared in 

 a large number of the older orchards 

 of the Northwest and the problem is 

 now how can it best be met at the pres- 

 ent time without serious loss of crops 

 or large financial expenditures. 



W. S. Thomber, Consulting Horticulturist 



The results of successful fruit grow- 

 ers in different parts of the Northwest 

 point to one of three methods for at 

 least temporary if not permanent solu- 

 tion. 



Where large quantities of barnyard 

 manure can be secured at a reasonable 

 cost it can be used to advantage, in the 

 long run; however, very few growers 

 will be able to secure manure in suffi- 

 cient quantities to replace the losses 



View of raspberry patch at North PuyaUup, 

 Washington, on which was applied a commer- 

 cial fertilizer containing nitrogen, phosphoric 

 acid and potash in a concentrated form. The 

 canes in this patch reached a height of eleven 

 feet and the yield of berries was 

 correspondingly heavy. 



that have already taken place and fur- 

 thermore the action of the manure will 

 be too slow to be of immediate use for 

 the coming crop. Eventually, if not at 

 the present time, many fruit growers 

 will find it economically advantageous 

 to combine dairying or livestock proj- 

 ects with their fruit work. 

 , In districts where there is an abund- 

 ance of water for irrigation purposes 

 nitrogen gathering crops can be used 

 as cover and mulch crops in the or- 

 chard and the fertility of the soil be 

 maintained at a small expense per acre. 

 The action of these crops are very slow 

 and not infrequently it is impossible to 

 see results from their use before the 



third or fourth year; nevertheless it is 

 a good business proposition to make 

 every possible use of these crops, even 

 though it is necessary to supplement 

 their actions with other more concen- 

 trated plant foods. 



The use of commercial fertilizers is 

 a new story to the Western fruit man. 

 Nevertheless he will eventually adapt 

 himself to their use just as he has to 

 the spraying, pruning, cultivating, irri- 

 gating and thinning of fruit and in a 

 comparatively short time the use of 

 commercial fertilizers will be as com- 

 mon here as in other intensive agricul- 

 tural sections. The fruit growers and 

 gardeners long ago demonstrated their 

 ability to adapt themselves to new and 

 local conditions and chose methods, 

 sprays, improved machinery and new 

 varieties of fruit best fitted to their 

 various localities, plans of management 

 and marketing organizations, and when 

 they realize the importance of keeping 

 the chief elements of plant food in a 

 balanced proportion in their soils in 

 order to make it possible for the trees 

 to produce profitable crops annually, 

 large quantities of commercial fertiliz- 

 ers will be used. 



Recent experiments and demonstra- 

 tions prove beyond a doubt that it is 

 just as important to provide a so-called 

 balanced ration for the bearing fruit 

 tree as it is for the dairy cow or the 

 laying hen. 



Undoubtedly many a fruit grower has 

 seen his trees produce an abundance of 

 water sprouts and wood growth for two 

 or three years following a very heavy 

 application of a rich nitrogenous coat 

 of manure and possibly during the 

 fourth and fifth years harvested good 

 crops of fruit but failed to realize that 

 his orchard so to speak has been out of 

 balance. In other words the food pro- 

 vided had resulted in wood growth at 

 the expense of fruit production and the 

 trees had done the most natural thing 

 in plant life and that is to produce wood 

 when wood producing plant food was 

 in excess of the food for a reasonable 

 wood production and a crop of fruit. 

 On the other hand, had these trees 

 been supplied with a so-called balanced 

 ration, profitable annual crops would 

 have been the outcome, unless affected 

 by late spring frosts or other unfavor- 

 able weather conditions. 



It is also interesting to note that the 

 fruit buds and blossoms on trees fed 

 on a properly balanced ration will 

 withstand injury from several degrees 

 more of frost than trees either overfed 

 or underfed under similar conditions. 

 The writer had the opportunity last 

 year to carefully observe during the 

 spring frost the behavior of several 

 varieties under test and it was especi,al- 

 ly evident in all varieties that the prop- 

 erly fed trees came through with very 

 little if any loss while other trees lost 

 all or nearly all of their fruit. 



Just what fertilizer to use and how 

 to apply it is a problem that must be 

 Continued on page 39. 



