444 



DOMESTIC NOTICES. 



The 2d vol. of the Horticulturist contains an 

 article on " special manuring " of fruit trees, 

 Written by Mr. Downing, which embraces the 

 analyses of the wood of various species, by Prof. 

 Emmons. Several periodicals and scientillc pub- 

 lications, both in Europe and this country, have 

 of late contained much that is important in rela- 

 tion to this subject. 



Communitj' at large have always known that 

 each species of animals requires peculiar kinds of 

 food, to ensure health, growth, and full develop- 

 ment of its powers, and that the kinds adapted to 

 one species, may not answer for another. The 

 cow will starve on that which will fatten the dog. 



That e.aeh .species of the vegetable kingdom is 

 equally select in its requirements of food, ha.s not 

 been generally understood. An indefinite idea has 

 prevailed, that all vegetables will flourish in a 

 soil that in common language, is rich. 



Both science and experience have, however, 

 .shown us that vegetables, as well as animals, 

 must be fed w'ith their appropriate elements of 

 nutrition, in order to flourish. For the last six 

 years I have devoted some time and thought to 

 discover the best and most economical method of 

 supplying fruit trees and wheat with their appro- 

 priate food. 



The writings to which I have alluded, have re- 

 lieved the subject of much obscurity, and enabled 

 me to progress with my researches and experi- 

 ments with more precision. 



My farm originally contained very limited quan- 

 tities of several important ingorganic principles of 

 wheat, and those had been so entirel}' exhausted 

 by bad management, that wheat would literally 

 ])roduce neither straw nor berry. 



The pear tree would send forth not more than 

 irom two to six inches growth in a season; fruit 

 buds would form in excess, the fruit would be 

 blighted, knotty and deficient in flavor, and in the 

 course of four years the tree would exhibit the 

 evidences of old age and disease. In the same 

 soil, the apple tree would succeed somewhat bet- 

 ter, while the peach and cherry would flourish 

 both in regard to the production of wood and 

 fruit, to the extent of my wishes. 



Under these circumstances, I set myself to work 

 to discover the cause of such results, and soon 

 became convinced that it was a deficiency of some 

 kind of nutrition. The analyses of Prof. E. indi- 

 cated the kind. 



Plaster of Paris, clover, leached ashes, and a 

 small addition of barn-yard manure, brought some 

 of my barren fields, at the end of two years, into 

 a condition in which they produced large crops of 

 wheat straw, but yielded only eleven bushels of 

 wheat to the acre. 



By supplying one of these lots with a second 

 dressing of plaster, turning in a large crop of 

 clover, and adding subsequently a supply of barn- 

 yard and slaughter-house manure, and phosphate 

 of lime, I obtained nineteen bushels of superior 

 wheat to the acre, besides that which was wasted 



by long continued rains. The straw was not 

 heavier than in the former year. 



A dressing of phosphate of lime, ashes, and 

 barn-yard manure, with a limited supply of salt, 

 has etrectcd an equally favorable change with the 

 growth and fruits of my pear trees. 



The limits of this communication will not allow 

 of my detailing all my numerous experiments. I 

 will, however, say, in general terms, that they 

 have been in the highest degree satisfactory, and 

 have amply repaid all expense and trouble. 



A fruit tree or a grain field can be fed with a.s 

 much success and precision as a cow or horse, 

 and an half starved fruit tree is no more sightly 

 nor profitable than an impoverished animal. 



The late Mr. Marvin, of Beaver county. Pa., 

 once observed to me, that he " had no sick sheej* 

 in his numerous flocks, owing to the circumstance 

 that he visited them daily, and saw that they were 

 well led." 



The horticulturist who pursues a similar course 

 with his fruit trees, will suffer very little from 

 their unhcalthiness or unproductiveness. 



Since I commenced the plan of high feeding, 

 and have banished from ray grounds every tree 

 propagated on a sucker, not a solitary pear tree 

 has been afiected with fire blight. The.se cir- 

 cumstances may have been coincident, but at the 

 same time accidental. The subject is, however, 

 worthy of further attention. 



The analyses of Prof. Emmons have been the 

 ba^is upon which I have founded my experiments 

 during the last year. 



At the first view of the subject the culturist 

 may be discouraged with the apprehension that 

 the means of supplying his trees with inorganic 

 elements cannot be commanded. In this section 

 of the state, the greatest difficulty will occur in 

 procuring potash and phosphate of lime ; yet the 

 materials usually wasted about the dwelling of a 

 farmer, would furnish the required number of fruit 

 trees with these elements. Leached ashes from 

 soap-making and pot-asheries will supplj' the for- 

 mer in abundance, and the latter is derived prin- 

 cipally from animal bones. Every fragment of 

 bone, and the remains of every animal, large and 

 small, should be carefully preserved, and applied 

 to the roots of fruit trees. 



It may, however, be obtained in limited quan- 

 tities from urine, excrement of fowls, peat and de- 

 caying vegetable fibre, and in some soils and wa- 

 ters it naturally occurs. 



According to Raspail, it abounds in such quan- 

 tities in (he leaf of the poke-berry, (Phytolacca,) 

 that under certain management the foot stalks 

 will be coated with acicular crystals of this salt. 



It may, however, abound in a soil in an insolu- 

 ble state, in which it cannot be converted to nu- 

 trition by the growing tree. The addition of am- 

 monia or common salt, will at once enable it to 

 pass into a state of solution in water, when it may 

 be taken up by the spongioles of the roots. 



Common salt affords of itself little or nothing 



