FERTILIZING ORCHARDS. 



Sir, — It is becoming a matter of 

 the greatest importance to our fruit 

 growers to understand not only what 

 substances may be useful as manures 

 but also how to apply them in the best 

 manner so far as they can be made pro- 

 fitable. 



There are numerous commercial fer- 

 tilizers now on the market advertised 

 for special erops with guaranteed anal- 

 ysis, etc , but in many cases with a little 

 care and judgment and some knowledge 

 of what the land and trees require, 

 many dollars may be saved in collecting 

 and preparing the crude matter always 

 found about our homes or near bye. 



It may be necessary for market gar- 

 deners, near our towns and cities to pur- 

 chase these fertilizers to force a quick 

 and succulent growth in early vegetables, 

 but the orchardist has not to consider 

 the forcing of an early growth so much 

 as he has the placing of his land in a 

 good state of cultivation with sufficient 

 quantities of humus to keep up an active 

 state of nitrification in his soil and also 

 a liberal supply of potash and phos- 

 phoric acid combined with nitrogen, 

 forming the three elements so necessary 

 to producing the full grown perfect fruit 

 that our best markets now demand ; for 

 our soil becomes more rapidly exhaust- 

 ed of these three elements than any 

 other of the ash and volatile parts of 

 plants and trees. 



To those who have sufficient stable 

 manure, I might say, that excellent re- 

 sults can be obtained from the annual 

 application of 5 or 6 tons per acre 

 spread during the winter or early spring, 

 over the entire surface of the ground, 

 and after the first ploughing, which 

 should be done in the spring, just so 

 soon as the ground ean be worked, a 

 dressing of 20 or 25 bushels of wood 



ashes followed by frequent cultivating, 

 up to August ist to 15th at which time 

 the working of the soil should cease so 

 as to check succulent growth and give 

 the new wood time to ripen up before 

 winter. 



Where swamp muck can be obtained 

 a good manure can be made by the fol- 

 lowing method : Draw your muck to a 

 convenient place and to every load mix 

 one bushel of fresh, unslacked lime ; 

 spread out your muck in a thin layer 

 and spread on the lime, then a layer of 

 of muck and lime alternately, just damp- 

 ening the whole with animal urine or 

 barnyard drainage if it can be obtained, 

 or water will do, putting it as the layers 

 are built up. 



After it has stood a few days it should 

 be turned and intimately mixed by com- 

 mencing at one side of the pile and 

 cutting down from top to bottom with a 

 spade and throwing up into a conical 

 heap. Now, just before you apply this 

 to the land take one barrel of dissolved 

 bone and ashes (how to dissolve the bone 

 will be described presently) to every five 

 loads of muck and lime mixing it by 

 putting up in alternate layers of muck 

 and bone and then cut down to the full 

 depth of the side of the pile when 

 shoveling into the wagon, by which 

 means its becomes well mixed. Spread 

 over the entire ground of the orchard 

 in April or May, at the rate of eight or 

 ten loads to the acre, and thoroughly 

 incorporate it with the soil by cultiva- 

 tion. 



This will be found an excellent ma- 

 nure for bearing orchards, besides the 

 the humus added to the soil the lime 

 acts upon and corrects the acid pre- 

 sent in the muck and allows the ferments 

 of nitrification to proceed, liberating the 

 nitrogen, potash and phosphoric acid 

 36 



