THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



January, 1913 



A Clais in Box Packing at the Oka Agricultural Institute, La Trappe, Que. 



This institute is a leadt-r in horticultural eduoa tion in the province of Quebec. The Three-Two 



Diagonal pack is here being used. Rev. Father Ijeoiwld is the second figure on the left. He 



has recently been elected president of the Province of Quebec Fruit Growers' Society. 



etful of "food" no increase. The man- 

 ure i.s of value not because of any 

 "food" it contains. He misunderstands 

 my argument. 



When Mr. Emslie becomes personal 

 and refers to "his own prescriptions," 

 he is even here also in error. I am not 

 a physician. I am simply a specialist in 

 plant diseases and in soil fertility. His 

 reference to soil constituents as "hash" 

 is no argument. It is disposing of the 



question as an orchardist does who, 

 when he wishes to rid his orchard of 

 insect pests, goes into the orchard and 

 says "shoo." To compare fertilizers 

 to a "dose of salts" is far too flattering 

 to the fertilizers. 



In conclusion let me thank the editor 

 for this space, and say that the plant 

 must answer. The plant is the chem- 

 ist who must pronounce upon the value 

 of a fertilizer. 



Fertilizer for the Orchard 



DR. J. P. .Stewart, Experimental 

 Pomologist of the Pennsylvania 

 Experiment Station at State Col- 

 lege, Pa., discussed the use of fertiliza- 

 tion and cultural methods in apple pro- 

 duction at the recent convention in Tor- 

 onto of the Ontario Fruit Growers' A.s- 

 sociation.' His deductions were based 

 on six years' work in ten experiments 

 located in the leading apple sections of 

 Penn.syivania and involving ten different 

 soil types and two thousand two hundred 

 and nineteen trees. The trees range 

 from ten to forty years of age, and have 

 produced over one million seven hundred 

 thousand pounds of fruit since the work 

 started. 



These experiments have shown : First, 

 that in some orchards the yield can be 

 greatly influenced by proper fertilization, 

 the most important elements of which 

 have been nitrogen and phosphates. 

 \\"\th all other conditions uniform, the 

 gains from such fertilization have run 

 as high as seventeen times the amounts 

 of fruit produced on the adjacent checks 

 or untreated plots and net profits have 

 been as great as four hundred and twenty 

 Hollars an acre in a single season. Under 



these conditions, tillage and cover crops 

 have not been the equivalent of fertili- 

 zation. The gains from the former have 

 averaged about one hundred bushels per 

 acre annually, while the latter, without 

 cultivation, was giving four hundred and 

 fifty-two bushels a year. 



-Second: The ab.sence of nitrogen, as a 

 rule, applications of phosphates and po- 

 tash have not been profitable. On some 

 soils, and in the presence of sufficient 

 nitrogen, however, moderate amounts 

 of these minerals are often profitable. 

 Neither has had any material influence 

 on color. On size, the influence of po- 

 tash has been favorable. 



Third : Nitrogen has had greater in- 

 fluence in increasing yield than any other 

 element. It also has materially decreas- 

 ed color. This is due primarily to delav 

 in maturity, and may be overcome by 

 later picking, which is advantageous in 

 Pennsylvania with such varieties as 

 Baldwin. The delay on it in one locality 

 in tgii was three weeks. 



Fourth : Contrary to a prevalent no- 

 tion, growth and fruiting are not an- 

 tagonistic, unless either occurs in ab- 

 normal amount. The best growing plots, 



.IS ,1 nil.', have In-cn the U .4 Iruili; 



|)I<)IS. 



I'iflh: .Manure has usually proved p- 

 (ilable, doubtless es.sentially because <>l 

 its nitrogen content. In most of the 

 cases where it has proved lieneficial, 

 however, its net profits have l)ccn ap- 

 proached or surpassed by certain com- 

 binations of artificial fertilizers. 



.Sixth: In a few orchards no form of 

 fertilization has yet prtxluced a material 

 I -sponse. This is considered to be due 

 the presence of other limiters, '■ 

 which improper moisture supply is fre- 

 qi;ently important. The existence of 

 si'ch orchards emphasizes the need of 

 local tests Ix'fore making large and re- 

 gular expenditures for fertilizers. Simple 

 methods of making these tests and a 

 good general formula for preliminary use 

 were indicated. 



Seventh : In the long run, any orchard 

 that is actively producing and growing is 

 likely to require fertilization, since the 

 total plant food draft of such an orchard 

 is quite heavy — more per acre for every 

 constituent except phosphorus than is 

 required by a twenty-five bushel crop of 

 wheat. 



OONTBOLLING THE (X)IX)E 



Eighth : Color in apples is essentially 

 dependent on maturityand sunlight. Con- 

 ditions increasing one or both of these 

 factors such as late picking, light soils, 

 open pruning, and sod culture increase 

 color. Opposite conditions decrease it. 

 Iron applications to the soil have not 

 been shown to improve. the color. 



Ninth : The average size of apples is 

 governed primarily by the number of 

 fruits on the tree, after the number has 

 pa.s.sed a certain "critical point." This 

 point is relatively high, the data showing 

 that, even on trees up to fifteen years of 

 age, little or no correslation appeared 

 until the number of fruits reached one 

 thousand four hundred or more per tree. 

 Below the critical point, size can be 

 markedly affected by moisture supply, 

 cultural methods, manures, and fertili- 

 zer.s — especially those rich in potash ; and 

 the.se factors may also cooperate in such 

 a way as to materially raise the critical 

 point. 



Ordinary concentrated lime-sulphur 

 has not given as good results in destroy- 

 ing the oyster .shell bark louse as the old 

 home-boiled mixture containing more 

 lime made by boiling twenty pounds of 

 lime and fifteen pounds of sulphur in 

 forty gallons of water. The poor results 

 obtained are due to the lack of free lime. 

 The lime acts in the gelutineous matter 

 of the scale, loosening it, and allowing 

 the caustic lime-sulphur to enter and kill 

 the insect. For best results in destroying 

 this insect mix from five to eight pounds 

 of lime with each barrel of lime-sulphur 

 as diluted for application. — W. T. Ma- 

 coun, Horticulturist, C.E.F., Ottawa. 



