806 THE AMERICAN FARMER. 



Fertilizers. It is not safe to manure trees at the time of planting. In some instances 

 this has succeeded very well, but only when the manure has been long composted and 

 frequently turned, so that no fermentation will occur around the wounded roots. &quot;When 

 manuring must be done thus early it is better to scatter it on the ground and turn it several 

 times in the soil some weeks before the tree is planted. After the tree has been planted and 

 once started to grow it is then well to manure it heavily till it begins to bear. Begin with a 

 moderate quantity, applying nearer the outer extremity of the lateral roots and increase the 

 quantity every year and enlarge the area to which it is applied. Orange trees should never 

 be stimulated in the fall or latter part of the summer. It is much better to manure in the 

 spring. Another advantage to be noted is, when trees are pushed before coming into bearing, 

 the heavy manuring does no damage to the fruit. After trees have begun to bear it is better 

 to manure heavily once in four or five years. 



Manuring bearing trees, and especially when the manuring is heavily done, has a 

 tendency to make the oranges split and drop off the first year after manuring; and even when 

 they do not split, the fruit for the first year is not so sweet and is more liable to rot soon 

 after picking. To insure a good general yield and salable fruit each year the manuring 

 should be applied alternately to different parts of the grove, laying off the grove into four or 

 five equal parts and manuring the first part the first year, the second, the second year, etc. 

 The kind of fertilizer to be used depends largely upon the character of the soil. 



Some of the commercial manures are valuable when used in combination with other 

 things, but none of them contain in right proportions all the elements needed for the orange. 

 A good article of ground bone, where the oils and phosphoric acid have been too generally 

 expelled by burning ; Peruvian guano, and potash, both the nitrate and sulphate, are very good 

 when combined with muck. These are especially valuable when early vegetables are to be 

 grown among the orange trees, as they highly stimulate the soil and hasten forward both the 

 vegetables and the orange trees. Land plaster should be especially mentioned as beneficial 

 to our sandy soil, as it not only furnishes an important element to the soil, but in the absence 

 of clay in most of our soils, furnishes a valuable absorber and retainer of the volatile 

 manures so easily expelled by our abundance of sunshine. The writer thinks he has seen 

 another advantage in the use of land plaster in the check which the sulphur, contained in the 

 plaster, has upon some of the insects which damage the trees. Green crops turned under are 

 highly beneficial to young trees. Rye, oats, and barley sown in the fall and turned under in 

 the spring, and followed by one or two crops of cow peas during the summer help forward a 

 grove of trees wonderfully. It is still better if this be accompanied by a liberal dressing of 

 wood-ashes. One ton to the acre is not too much. Manures from the stables, cow-pens, 

 hennery, and pig-sty, indeed from every place where waste is deposited, should first be 

 deodorized by the liberal use of land plaster or sulphate of iron copperas dissolved in water 

 and composted with muck, and be carefully saved and utilized. As they are highly 

 stimulating they should be composted with three or four times the quantity of muck, and 

 frequently turned before using. 



But of all the manures, that which is cheapest and most abundant is the muck to be 

 found in our rivers, creeks, lakes, and ponds. Before trees reach the bearing state they should 

 be fed with nitrogenous manures; but after they have begun to bear, potash and kindred 

 manures should be liberally used. Nitrogenous manures encourage the development of new 

 wood foliage, while lime and potash are necessary to an abundance of fruit. The yellow 

 leaves of the tree indicate a deficiency of nitrogenous manures, while the dark green leaves 

 show an abundance. On the other hand rust on fruit shows an excess of nitrogenous 

 manures, and the writer has found a correction of this in using the slacked lime from 

 burned oyster shells sown broadcast. The lime, in sowing, should be allowed to sift lightly 

 through the branches and leaves of the tree. It should be applied before the trees bloom and 

 when the foliage is dry. 



