FERTILIZERS FOR FRUITS 



U. P. HKDRICK 

 Horticulturist, New York Agricultural Experiment Station, Geneva, X. Y. 



I shall discuss briefly several comparative tests of fertilizers 

 for fruits made at the New York Agricultural Experiment 

 Station. 



The first was carried on for twelve years in an old apple 

 orchard, in which the trees had practically completed their 

 growth hefore the experiment began. The soil was a heavy clay 

 loam, fairly typical of the majority of the orchards of western 

 Xow York. For twelve years, applications of potassium, phos- 

 phoric acid, and lime were made on an orchard forty-three years 

 old at the beginning of the experiment. There were some slight 

 gains in yield for the fertilized trees, but there was no difference 

 in color or keeping quality of fruit between crops from fertilized 

 and unfertilized trees. Practically, if not strictly in fact, the 

 results were negative. The data showed that it was not profitable 

 to apply potassium, phosphorus, or lime to the soil of this Station 

 orchard; that fifty-five years of cropping had not reduced this soil 

 to a condition where it needed a " complete " fertilizer. Stable 

 manure or cover crops plowed under in this orchard usually 

 showed beneficial results the same or the next season. It would 

 be an assumption to say which it is the food or the condition of 

 the soil brought about by the organic matter, or both that proved 

 beneficial when manure and cover crops were plowed under. 



The second experiment was with young apple trees and began 

 in the spring of 1896. Ben Davis stock set in April was top- 

 worked to Rome Beauty in July, the buds having all been taken 

 from one tree to avoid variations. The orchard was laid off in 

 twelve plats of five trees each. In plats 1 and 9 stable manure 

 was used at the rate of five tons per acre; plats 2 and 8, acid phos- 

 phate at the rate of 350 pounds per acre; plats 6 and 10, acid 

 phosphate and muriate of potash 350 pounds of the first and 200 

 pounds of the second ; plats 4 and 12, the above amounts of acid 

 phosphate and muriate of potash, plus 250 pounds dried blood 

 and 95 pounds nitrate of soda; plats 3, 5, 7, and 11 were checks. 



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