58 



THE CANADIAN HORTICtJLTURTST 



March, 1912 



zers. Hence my contention that a fruit 

 grower can get along very well indeed 

 without that expensive luxury — farm 

 yard manure. 



But there is a danger in the excessive 

 use of cover crops, especially of the 

 legumes, for if we accumulate a large 

 amount of available nitrogen compounds 

 in our orchards we retard the proper 

 ripening of our fruit. Our aim must be, 

 therefore, to grow just sufficient to keep 

 our soil in good physical condition, and 

 then by the use of such special fertilizers 

 as are required to keep our soil up to its 

 maximum efficiency. 



LIME A NECESSITY 



A manure is "any solid substance 

 added to the soil to make it more pro- 

 ductive." Hence substances that are not 

 in themselves a direct plant food or only 

 so to a comparatively limited extent may 

 be a manure. Lime, though fairly prev- 

 alent in soils, is nevertheless frequently 

 lacking in the surface layers, and may be 

 especially so when there have been 

 heavy applications of animal manures 

 and of green manures. Lime is neces- 

 sary to the proper decay of humus and 

 of proper nitrification. It neutralizes 

 acids formed by decaying organic mat- 

 ter, and moreover it is a matter of ex- 

 perience that sweeter fruits are produced 

 on soils that have a plentiful though not 

 an excessive supply of lime. 



Then, again, lime checks excessive 

 wood and leaf growth resulting from an 

 over-supply of moisture, and it seems to 

 the writer it may in this manner be of 

 service in the control of bacterial blight 

 in the pear orchard. Hence a manure 

 may also aid us in fighting disease. 



FEETILTZERS COMBAT DISEASE 



I once had an orchard of Japanese 

 plums which had become badly affected 

 with the shot hole fungus to such an ex- 

 tent that the trees were defoliated very 

 early in the season. They had received 

 two thorough sprayings with bordeaux, 

 as well as the early applied lime and 

 sulfur. To this orchard I applied a 

 dressing of droppings from the hens' 

 roost which had been pulverized and 

 mixed with soil, then at the fall of the 

 blossom, nitrate of soda at the rate of 

 about fifty pounds to the acre, and again 

 a similar dressing when the fruit was 

 about the size of large buck shot. The 

 results were most gratifying. ' The foli- 

 age showed a healthy color throughout 

 the growing season and remained on the 

 tree until late fall. Similarly, nitrate of 

 soda may be used in the peach orchard 

 when the foliage is threatened by leaf 

 curl, but otherwise I would never advise 

 its use in the orchard. It is too quick 

 of action, and too stimulating, to make 

 it a safe manure in the orchard. Nitrate 

 of soda may be used advantageously in 

 the strawberry bed to hasten growth in 

 the early spring, It should be well pul- 



A Power Sprayer at Work 



Notice how thoroughly the trees can be oov- 

 ered with the spray. 



verized and mixed with soil to bulk it 

 and thus aid in distributing so small an 

 amount as can properly be used, and ap- 

 plied when the foliage is dry else it will 

 be apt to "burn" the plants. A pecul- 

 iaritv of nitrate of soda is that two light 

 applications will have a tendency to has- 

 ten maturity while one heavier one will 

 retard. 



Let it be thoroughly understood that 

 fertilizers will not replace spraying. 

 Spraving is an absolute necessity, but 

 fertilizers will help in certain diseases by 

 giving strength and vigor just as stimu- 

 latine: diets are required by the human 

 svstem to carry it through a crisis. It 

 is needless for me to point out that over 

 stimulation bv nitrogenous manures in 

 the pear orchard would only lead to dis- 

 aster bv encouraging conditions favor- 

 able to the spread of bacterial blight. 



MECHANICAL CONDITION OF SOIL 



Peter Henderson, in his "Gardening 

 for Profit," describes soil deficient in 

 vegetable matter as "a weight of soil." 

 This expression is very apt, for soil in 

 this condition is heavy, gritty and com- 

 pact. The mechanical condition of such 

 a soil is such that plants would not re- 

 spond to fertilizers because it lacks air 

 and loses its moisture rapidly. Air and 

 moisture are essentials of plant life and 

 to the releasing of plant food whether 

 naturally in the soil or artificially placed 

 there. It must be remembered that fer- 

 tilizers though applied to the soil in 

 soluble forms do not remain so, but 

 rapidly revert and again become insolu- 

 ble by the absorption properties of the 

 soil. Before this occurs, however, the 



soluble phosphates or potash distribute 

 themselves more or less thoroughly in the 

 .soil, and exist in so fine a state of di- 

 vision that they may be rapidly render- 

 ed available by the natural agencies in 

 the soil and the action of plant roots. 

 Nitrogen alone remains soluble and is ac- 

 cordingly very subject to loss by wash- 

 ing. 



AVOID OVER STIMULATION 



The intelligent use of commercial fer- 

 tilizers of known source and composi- 

 tion, together with a soil kept in a good 

 ■mechanical condition by the plowing in 

 of green manures and by proper cultiva- 

 tion cannot fail of results. Your orchard 

 may not show the effects of a fertilizing 

 the first year of application, because the 

 trees fruit from last year's buds, yet a 

 plentiful supply of food will produce a 

 healthier and stronger growth with a sub- 

 sequent improvement in productiveness 

 and the character of the fruit. The one 

 thing to avoid is over-stimulation, es- 

 pecially in young orchards. Do not try 

 to force a tree or bush big too soon else 

 you will defeat your own ends, but grow 

 them as big as you can compatibly with 

 a sound, healthy development. 



Then, in applying manure spread it 

 broadcast over the whole surface of the 

 ground and not as is frequently done 

 just immediately around each tree or 

 plant. The aim is to encourage an ex- 

 tended root growth, whereas the appli- 

 cation of fertilizers just around the plant 

 induces a short, curled ramification of 

 roots, much similar to a plant in a 

 flower fjot, a condition of things not at 

 all to be desired. 



A Useful Bush Sleigh 



C. J. H., Ottawa, Out. 



In the extensive movement in New 

 Ontario and elsewhere for the renovat- 

 ing of old orchards, a great deal of brush 

 and deadwood is incidentally left on the 

 ground. After the first pruning of a 

 neglected orchard, if not removed be- 

 fore the snow leaves the ground, this 

 brush is so thick as to prevent the early 

 spraying. The quick and well timed re- 

 moval of this brush, much of which is 

 infected with blight, moth eggs, and in- 

 jurious insects, means quite an under- 

 takin.T. If not gone at properly, it en- 

 tails almost as much labor as the prun- 

 ing itself. 



In the Georgian Bay district last win- 

 ter the fruit grower with whom I stayed 

 liad a lot of brush to remove from his 

 orchard. It was found that in using a 

 team bob-sleigh the weight of the sleigh 

 alone was almost too much for the horses 

 in the deep snow. The fault was reme- 

 died as follows : 



The platform and rear bob of the 

 sleigh were removed from the sleigh, 

 and two twenty foot maple saplings were 

 laid on the truck of the bob. These were 



