40 



EXPEEIMEKT STATION RECORD. 

 Losses in soil fertility per a<yre in grotcing fruit trees. 



[Vol.36 



Peach trees. 



Phos- 

 phoric 

 acid. 



Nitro- 

 gen. 



Potash. 



Apple trees. 



Phos- 

 phoric 

 acid. 



Nitro- 

 gen. 



Potash. 



Total plant food taken up by trees in the nine years. . . 

 Total plant food retained in trees at the end of the 



ninth growing season 



Total plant food returned to the soil by leaves, etc., 



during the nine years 



Lbs. 

 50.83 



27.67 

 23.16 



Lbs. 

 215. 90 



87.97 

 127.93 



Lis. 

 237.60 



60.18 

 177. 42 



Lbs. 

 9.26 



6.73 

 2.53 



Lbs. 

 28.10 



15.26 

 12.84 



Lbs. 

 27.22 



14.25 

 12.97 



From these data tlie author concludes that the total loss for the growth of an 

 acre of trees to maturity is scarcely more in quantity, though different in pro- 

 portion of elements, than that contained in 100 bu. of corn. 



Analyses were made of the fruit to determine the total loss in soil fertility 

 by the removal of a crop, and the average percentage composition of all samples 

 of fruit analyzed was used in making the following calculation : 



Comparison of the mmount of plant food removed from the soil by peach and 



apple fruit and com. 



Crop. 



Potash 



in 

 crop. 



Apple 

 Peach 

 Com. 



Lbs. 

 43.05 

 59.50 

 15.96 



From the data secured as a whole it appears that apple production will 

 exhaust the soil much more slowly than corn or grain crops. Peach trees 

 resemble apple trees in their demands, the principal difference being that more 

 plant food is required for a crop of peaches than for a crop of apples. In the 

 presence of sufficient moisture and other conditions suitable for fruit culture 

 the principal soil fertility and fertilizer problems confronting the orchardist is 

 the building up of the soil by means of commercial fertilizers and manure to a 

 normal state of fertility. For this purpose it was concluded that 8 or 10 tons 

 of barnyard manure applied per acre every three years followed by green 

 manure crops and proper tillage is sufficient. 



[The effect of site on blossom development and frost injury], J. E. Church, 

 Jr. (Nevada Sta. Rpt. 1915, pp. 52, 53). — Observations made of a few orchards 

 during the spring of 1915 indicate that when frost occurs with wind orchards 

 which are protected from the wind by hillsides or other screens suffer much 

 less injury than when the exposure is complete. Frost injury increased with 

 the stage of development of the blossoms. 



Orchard rejuvenation in southeastern Ohio, F. H. Ballou {Ohio Sta. Bui. 

 SOI (1916). pp. S-JfO, figs. 23). — In this bulletin the author reviews previous ex- 

 periments in orchard fertilization and culture conducted by the station (E. S. R., 

 28, p. 47) and gives the results of more recent experiments in orchard fer- 

 tilization. 



The completion of a 5-year period of work in orchard fertilization at three 

 different locations in southeastern Ohio has confirmed previous conclusions that 



