HOW TO FERTILIZE. 97 



bear heavy manuring, just as a growing child will eat more 

 in proportion than an adult; but if the system of high 

 manuring is continued after they have arrived at the bear- 

 ing age, eight or ten years, it will almost invariably retard 

 their fruiting, as too rich a soil has a tendency to make 

 wood rather than fruit. Therefore, after the seventh year, 

 the quantity of manures should be gradually lessened, and 

 only enough used to keep the tree in a healthy slow growth 

 condition. 



In manures for young trees nitrogen should be present 

 in larger quantities than for bearing trees, the latter re- 

 quiring more potash, phosphoric acid, lime, and other kin- 

 dred manures. 



Yellowish leaves indicate a deficiency of nitrogen in the 

 soil ; dark green leaves show that there is plenty of it. 



When the clay is five or six feet or more below the sur- 

 face, so that manures are liable to be washed down below 

 the roots, three or four light manurings, one in January, 

 another in March, another in June, and the last in August, 

 are better than one or two heavy manurings. The first 

 should be heavier than the rest, however, as tending di- 

 rectly to help the latest buds and young fruit. Liberal 

 manuring as early in the spring as possible and by this 

 we mean the Florida spring, which begins in January 

 conduces to a larger and finer fruit crop than can be at- 

 tained when this is neglected. Frequent experience has 

 proven this as an invariable rule, other things being equal. 

 When clay is within three or four feet of the surface, two 

 heavy applications of manure, one in January and the 

 other in July, are all that is necessary, the clay serving 

 as a base to retain it until the roots can assimilate it. 



