86 Journal of Agriculture, Victoria. [11 Feb., 1918. 



is a practice that merits the most severe condemnation. Even though 

 strips including the whole of the young trees' root feeding areas be 

 reserved, and the fodded crops be sown on the areas between them, the 

 practice must still be condemned, for, as the crop grows, it partly 

 excludes the light and air from the lower limbs and foliage of the trees. 

 When their root pasturage extends to the cropped areas, the trees 

 commence to sihow a lack of vigour, and later the light yields of fruit 

 of poor colour usually demonstrate the undesirableness of cropping 

 orchard land. 



Fruit-growers with limited capital commencing on small areas are 

 often compelled, through force of circumstances, to seek returns by 

 cultivating peas, beans, strawberries, &c., between the rows until the 

 trees come into bearing. Owing to the amount of manure and extra 

 working necessary for th© profitable production of these crops, their 

 cultivation between the rows is an advantage rather than a detriment 

 to the trees. 



Compare the conditions under which the trees are growing in the 

 orchard depicted in the illustration under review with the block of 

 King David trees of th© same age, growing under a eiystem of clean 

 cultivation as shown in Plate 152. From a study of these illustrations 

 th© reader cannot fail to realize that further comment in this connexion 

 is unnecessary, and that no orchardist regarding the growth and fruiting 

 prospects of his trees as a matter of paramount importance, would grow 

 crops of hay among them. 



Manuring the Orchard. 



The value of orchard land from the fruit-growers stand-point may be 

 said to be rich or poor largely on account of the available elements of 

 the essential plant foods contained in it. At the same time the fertility 

 of the land also depends on the mechanical condition and structure of 

 the soil itself. Usually virgin soils suitable for apple culture contain, 

 in th© necessary proportion, the three elements of plant food, viz., 

 nitrogen, phosphoric acid, and potash, which are required for the healthy 

 development of the trees, and the production of remunerative crops of 

 fruit. When it is found by chemical analysis or manurial experiment 

 that the supply of these ingredients has become gradually exhausted by 

 continuous cropping, it should be replenished by the application of 

 suitable manures and fertilizers to the soil. 



Organic Manures. 



Owing to the marked advantage that stable manure has over the 

 artificial fertilizer, apple growers generally use it, when procurable in 

 sufl&cient quantities, in preference to the latter. Not only does stable 

 manure contain nitrogen, phosphoric acid, and potash which represent 

 the three chief elements in plant food, but on account of its organic 

 nature, when incorporated in the soil, it produces humus. This means 

 that the physical, chemical, and biological natur© of th© soil is improved, 

 and th© humus provided absorbs and retains moisture in which the plant 

 food is soluble and available to the feeding roots of th© tr©es. 



Proper drainage, good soil cultivation, with an occasional dressing 

 of lime when necessary, favours bacterial activity by counteracting soil 

 sourness or excessive and undesirable acidity. 



Stable manure should be well rotted before being used in the 

 .orchard. Chemical changes taking place in its constituents through the 



