220 



begins to shoAv it for lack of nitrogen as well as for lack of 

 civailable phosphoric acid and potash, and so the next step 

 in the utilization of the fertility which is present in all of 

 our fruit soils is the maintenance of a sufficient quantity of 

 "-'egetable matter; Avhether you use manure or a cover crop 

 of some sort is immaterial ; but you will find that you cannot 

 depend on tillage alone, nor can you depend on commercial 

 fertilizers alone to give you soil conditions that will be ac- 

 ceptable and satisfactory in every way. 



I remember a little experience I had with one of the 

 leading fruit growers in our state, who Avas farming on a 

 gravelly soil in South Jersey. He was then wedded to the 

 theory that ground limestone and basic slag was all that his 

 soil needed ; he objected to the use of cover crops because he 

 said, "Where I grow crimson clover or vetch, I have too 

 much trovible from the different fungus diseases that are apt 

 to attack my apples, and so I do nothing but use ground 

 limestone and basic slag to supply phosphoric acid and let 

 the weeds grow in the orchards and plow them under — 1 

 get enough vegetable matter out of the weeds to maintain 

 the vegetable matter in the soil." T told him that I was 

 willing to predict that sooner or later he would buy nitrogen 

 unless he decided to grow crimson clover, cow-peas, alfalfa, 

 vetch or some other leguminous crop in his orchard. He i< 

 using nitrogen now, because he realized in the course of two 

 or three years that his fruit was shrinking in size and that 

 yields Avere not as large as they should have been. 



This time comes sooner or later in every orchard — it 

 may be a long time in coming on land that is very produc- 

 tive, it may be a short time in coming on land that is not as 

 productive, but utilizing the natural stores of plant food, 

 we will always emphasize tillage and the maintenance of the 

 organic matter in the soil, whether it is in as far reaching a 

 way as they do in citrus groA^es in California or in a more 

 modest way as Ave attempt in Ncav England, Ncav York, 

 Pennsylvania or Ncav Jersey. 



The third means Avhieh Ave all recognize as essential in 



