240 



evident that such an investigation would be of importance to the cultiva- 

 tor of trees, and more particularly to the fruit grower, since by determin- 

 ing the drain upon his land he would have a knowledge of the needs and 

 conditions of orchard soil, and also be furnished with some valuable infor- 

 mation regarding the care of land on which trees are to be grown. There 

 are but few fruit growers who know with any degree of certainty regard- 

 ing the exhaustion of orchard soil, in consequence of which they apply 

 fertilizers that may or may not be for the good of the soil, and an applica- 

 tion of a surplus of fertilizers is not only a waste of money but is found to 

 be actually injurious. It may often be that much money is wasted in the 

 purchase of fertilizers rich in potash salts when the less expensive sodium 

 salts would answer as well. An analysis of the soil on which an orchard 

 is to be planted would at once show its condition, and knowing the pro- 

 portion of mineral constituents taken from the soil in the yearly growth 

 of trees, the fruit grower would be furnished with accurate information re- 

 garding the suitableness of his land for orchard purposes, and would also 

 know the exact constituents he could most profitably apply in his ferti- 

 lizers. An analysis of the ash of two trees of the same variety, one of them 

 attaining yearly a very vigorous growth, and the other, as it were, starving, 

 would show, unless the stunted growth was due to a lack of proper drain- 

 age, the food that should be given to the exhausted tree for its support. 



The work done by chemists upon the subject under consideration is 

 comparatively little. Much has been done upon the amount of nitrogen 

 and ammonia assimilated by trees, but little upon the amount of mineral 

 constituents taken from the soil. More prominent among those who have 

 worked upon the former subject are Justus von Liebig, Messrs. Veille and 

 Blossingault. Some results upon the analysis of apple twigs have been 

 published by Prof. G. E. Patrick, of the Iowa Exp. Station, but few results 

 regarding their mineral constituents were given. Much has been done by 

 Schroder, H. C. White of Georgia, and others upon the analysis of the 

 mineral constituents of forest trees, but no results are given regarding fruit 

 trees or shrubs. 



An exhaustive investigation has been made of the amount of mineral 

 constituents taken from the soil by tubers, cereals, etc., and valuable con- 

 clusions drawn. The best of these results can be found in the Journal of 

 the Royal Agricultural Society, series 11, vols. 7, 8 and 13. 



COMPOSITION OP TREES AND SHRUBS. 



All vegetable productions may be divided into two great classes. First, 



