Feeding Fruit Trees 



PROFESSOR BAILEY has put so many of the facts of this 

 subject into clear and lucid words that he deserves to 

 be quoted freely. In stating the situation he says this: 



"Any land which is fit for the growing of crops will main- 

 tain a fruit plantation throughout its existence without the 

 addition of plant-food, and enable the trees to produce at the 

 same time a normal quantity of fruit. But the profit in fruit- 

 growing lies in securing the extra quantity and superior qual- 

 ity, and this result demands fertilizing of the land and every 

 other good care. The extra quality and extra quantity seem 

 to depend a great deal on the fertility we supply." 



When we remove fifteen or more bushels of fruit from a 

 tree every year, we are going beyond "normal quantities," 

 and additional plant-food will be required because of this. 

 Nitrogen, phosphorus and potash are the principal foods on 

 which fruit trees live. A few other minerals, almost always 

 present, enter into their diet, but in quantities so small that 

 they may be overlooked. The soil is the table at which they 

 eat, while water and tillage, sunlight and air, are the cooks. 

 Each food must be supplied in the right quantity, in the right 

 proportion with others, and in the right way, if the trees are 

 to thrive. 



Food elements must be given in the right condition, as 

 partly explained in the talk on moisture, or trees cannot con- 

 sume them. Hay, raw meat, or raw and unground grain con- 

 tain all the elements needed for men, but men would not thrive 

 on them. It is just as important to "grind and cook" the 

 nitrogen, potash and phosphorus for trees as it is to grind 

 and cook meat and wheat for yourself. We cannot make fruit 

 out of plant-food elements until they are refined. 



Now, to grind and cook and refine plant-food elements, we 

 must have them dissolved in water. Carry them in soil that 

 is just as fine as it can be made, and that contains no acids 

 which work harmful results. We get them dissolved by saving 

 enough moisture for use at the right time. To have them 

 distributed well through fine soil, tillage or other subduing 

 methods must be employed. 



At the beginning of the earth, all soil was rock. Gradually 

 this was worn down, until moss and plants got a foothold, 

 grew and died, mixing their dead leaves and stalks with ^the 

 coarse soil year after year until now there is much fine, silky 

 loam. The hardest soils are the same as the best, except that 

 the lumpy or sticky ones have not had as much treatment 

 from water, air and sun as the better kinds. This explains 

 why the kind of soil never is very important so long as proper 

 care is taken. 



Bailey explains soil processes in this way: "Nature is a 

 kindly and solicitous mother. She knows that the elements 

 must be unlocked and worked over and digested by the roots 

 of plants. Plant tissues add fiber and richness to the land, 



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