298 



GARDENING. 



June /J, 



which it is certain we can not understand 

 too well. 



Perhaps there is very little difference of 

 opinion among all those who work the 

 soil for a living as to the general need of 

 enriching it for the profitable production 

 of crops. While the ordinary farmer very 

 plainly sees the absolute necessity each 

 year and the almost immediate response 

 of his crops to the application of suitable 

 manures, the fruit grower is none the less 

 in need of such kinds as are suitable to 

 the wants of his trees, vines and plants. 



The agricultural chemist and the prac- 

 tical every-day farmer and fruit grower 

 have both separately and jointly studied, 

 experimented and worked out the prob- 

 lem of the composition of various soils, 

 and when, what and how to apply ma- 

 nures and fertilizers to the best advan- 

 tage, vintil they are fairly well understood 

 by the most advanced in each of their 

 relative lines. 



But there is yet room for a more general 

 knowledge of the entire subject. Every 

 one who deals with that most mysterious 

 substance, the soil, is often at his wits' 

 end to know what is best to do with it, 

 because it is of all possible shades of vari- 

 ation, as to its constituent parts, mechan- 

 ical conditions, climatic affections and the 

 contour of its surface. 



He has tried this and that, sometimes 

 succeeding, and perhaps oftener tailing of 

 the results he had hoped to attain. Al- 

 lowing for all the innumerable variations 

 of climate, rainfall and other contingen- 

 cies, there are certain quite well defined 

 principles to be observed and relied upon, 

 and lines of action that are usually safe 

 to follow. 



Let us look, at this time, into those 

 things which pertain more especially to 

 the fruit grower. Of what are his fruits 

 composed? Which are the manurial ele- 

 ments that best serve his purposes? How, 

 when and in what forms should he apply 

 them? 



According to those who have analyzed 

 the various kinds of fruits, they contain 

 the following proportions of water and 

 the several manurial elements: 



PARTIAL ANALYSIS OF FRESH FRUITS. 



Water. Nitrogen. Ph. acid. Potash. 



Apples 85.30 .13 .01 .19 



Pears 83.92 .09 .03 .08 



Peaches 87.85 .05 .24 



Prunes . . . .77.38 .16 .07 .31 



Cherries 86.10 .18 .06 .20 



Grapes 83.00 .16 .09 .27 



Blackberries . .88.91 .15 .09 .20 



Raspberries . 81.82 ,15 .48 .35 



Strawberries . .9084 .15 .11 .30 



Oranges (Flu.) 87.71 .12 .08 i.» 



Chestnuts. native40.00 1.18 .39 .63 



It is therefore to be noted from the 

 above table that they are composed ot 

 water in a very large degree, with certain 

 amounts of the three chief elements of all 

 manures, which are nitrogen, phosphoric 

 acid and potash. Not only do the fruits 

 contain these three important things, but 

 the leaves, wood and roots of the trees 

 and plants bearing them contain more or 

 less of them. Moreover, they act in a 

 most positive and invigorating manner 

 upon the entire system of all growing 

 vegetation, although in different degrees 

 and in accordance with their different 

 requirements. They are absolutely indis- 

 pensable to the growth of vegetation. 



There are other elements and chemical 

 compounds which are essential to plant 

 life and development, and in most soils 

 they are found in available forms and in 

 suffirient quantities for ordinary crops. 

 The application of lime is often attended 

 with good results, especially if there is an 

 excess of decaying vegetable matter in the 

 soil. Most of our tillable soils have a 

 large natural content of phosphoric acid 



and potash, in many cases seemingly 

 inexhaustible, but largely in such forms 

 as to be available only under the most 

 judicious treatment, after that part has 

 been consumed by repeated cropping 

 which nature made available in what we 

 call her virgin soils. Nitrogen being the 

 most transitory and easiest appropriated, 

 is soonest exhausted in nearly all cases; 

 but fortunately there are means ready at 

 hand of drawing upon the inexhaustible 

 supply in the air. But to know what are 

 the special requirements of the several 

 fruit crops and how to best meet them, is 

 one of the problems that every fruit 

 grower should seek with all his diligence 

 to understand as fully as possible. 



NITROGEN AND ITS EFFECTS ON FRUITS. 



It has been fully demonstrated over and 

 over again that nitrogen has a remarka- 

 bly invigorating effect on vegetation, 

 especially in causing a leafy, succulent 

 growth. It is just whatthe farmer needs 

 in large supply, who grows hay and other 

 forage crops. Butthe fruit growershould 

 use great caution in the application of 

 nitrogenous manures. If unleached, they 

 are apt to contain a considerable propor- 

 tion of nitrogen and may cause too rank 

 a growth of wood, vine or leaf. Espe- 

 cially is this true as regards the grape 

 and strawberry. Nitrogen also prolongs 

 the period of vegetation. It makes fruits 

 later in ripening than they would have 

 been if a less amount of it had been avail- 

 able in the soil. Consequently they lack 

 color in most cases. This is especially 

 true of winter apples. 



An over supply of nitrogen also makes 

 fruits softer and poorer in quality than if 

 a normal amount were present. It is 

 possible, and not a very uncommon case 

 to have strawberries seriously damaged 

 by its injudicious use. The berries be- 

 come so soft as to bruise at the least 

 handling, and although large and showy 

 in the field, are wilted and poor looking 

 in the market. A normally firm variety 

 of strawberry may be made soft by too 

 much nitrogen, and perhaps unjustly con- 

 demned. The same is true of other kinds 

 of berries, peaches and other fruits, and 

 in variable degrees. But it must not be 

 thought that nitrogen is not needed on 

 the fruit farm, for it certainly is of great 

 benefit when used in proper proportion 

 to other manurial elements. When a 

 bearing fruit tree is not making an aver- 

 age of a foot of growth each year on its 

 terminal branches, and the leaves do not 

 look dark and healthy.it is probablethat 

 there is a lack of nitrogen in the soil. 

 There are various sources of nitrogen for 

 the fruit-grower's use, the cheapest of 

 which in most cases is, perhaps, the air. 

 All the leguminous crops have the pecu- 

 liar ability of gathering or taking in 

 nitrogen through their leaves and storing 

 it in their structures in organic form. 

 Crimson clover and cow peas are about 

 the best of all of them for the fruit grow- 

 ers' use. They may be grown even in 

 bearing orchards with very little obstruc- 

 tion to the cultivation that should, as a 

 common practice, begin in early spring 

 and be continued at least until the growth 

 is well begun. In June cow peas may be 

 sown broadcast, drilled or dropped in 

 hills, a bushel per acre, and if either of the 

 last two methods are used, cultivated 

 until they are too large for further work- 

 ing. An early kind, such as the common 

 black one, if planted by the middle of 

 June, will mature or come near to that 

 stage before frost as far north as south- 

 ern New York. Crimson clover, as is now 

 quite generally known, may be sown 

 more than a month later, and will cover 

 the ground with a carpet of green all 



winter and mature early the next season, 

 or it may be plowed tinder at any time in 

 the spring. The velvet bean is a more lately 

 introduced nitrogen collectorthat is prov- 

 ing of the most useful character, and 

 behaves much like the cow pea. 



All these and other similar crops are of 

 the highest value to the fruit grower if 

 plowed under or worked into the soil by 

 disc harrows. Over one-half of their 

 manurial value is in their roots and there- 

 fore already in the ground; but the addi- 

 tional manurial value of the tops is not 

 the only benefit, for they make humus, 

 which is an important factor in all culti- 

 vated soils. Nitrogen may also be added 

 to the soil by means of various organic sub- 

 stances, such as dried blood, tankage, dried 

 fish and cotton seed meal. Also in inor- 

 ganic forms, such as sulphate of ammo- . 

 nia nitrate of soda, etc. They are solu- 

 ble in water and become effective upon 

 plant growth within a very short time if 

 applied in the growing season. 



PHOSPHORIC ACID AND ITS SOURCE. 



Phosphorus is a mineral which becomes 

 in the plant a subtle and constant accom- 

 paniment ot life, and is found chiefly in 

 the most highly organized forms. United 

 with hydrogen and oxygen it forms phos- 

 phoric acid, in which form it enters plants 

 and causes them to grow luxuriantly, 

 and insures healthful and robust pro- 

 portions. It exists in the protoplasm of 

 the organic cell. Seeds contain it in some 

 degree, and the nerves and bones of 

 animals more largely. It is indestructible 

 bv fire and is always found in the ashes 

 of plants. In fact, this is one of its most 

 available forms, for the building up or 

 invigoration of succeeding plants. Fruits 

 contain it especially in their seeds and it 

 is necessary for the fruit grower to know 

 how to make available the hidden stores 

 of nature in the soil and to bef.ble to add 

 to them when necessary, and in cheap 

 form that which is needed. Tillage may 

 be said to be one of the most potent fac- 

 tors in this work. It conserves the moist- 

 ure of the soil, which is one of the agents 

 in the dissolution of certain forms of 

 phosphates, especially the super-phos- 

 phates, which consist chiefly of soluble 

 forms of phosphoric acid. A bard and 

 compact soil cannot contain nearly so 

 much water as one which is loose and 

 porous, just as a flint rock will absorb 

 less water than a brick, or a ball of clay 

 more than a brick, or a sponge more 

 than all of them. The finer the soil is 

 pulverized and the more humus there is in 

 it to give it porosity without making it too 

 loose, the more moisture it will hold. 

 Then, we must keep the top thoroughly 

 and frequently stirred to prevent the 

 escape of the water into the air, except 

 through the leaves of the growing crops. 

 But the soil must not be wet; it must not 

 be water-soaked. That would shut out 

 the air, and that is just as necessary as 

 the moisture. Hence we must have our 

 fruit soils, as well as all others, under- 

 drained either naturally or artificially. 

 The most ot them with proper plowing 

 and some times subsoiling, and with 

 thorough surface treatment, are quite 

 good enough without underdraining. 



But there will come a time with every 

 soil when additional supplies ot phospho- 

 ric acid will be very helpful and profitable. 

 The chief sources of phosphoric acid are 

 animal bone and phosphate rock, the lat- 

 ter being only the fossilized bones of pre- 

 historic animals or their residue, mixed 

 with extraneous mineral matter. The 

 finer either of these substances is ground 

 the better, that is, the sooner and more 

 readily their manurial value may be felt 

 by the trees or plants to which they are 



