TWENTY-FIRST ANNUAL MEETING. 109 



7. I believe our light, sand\- loams, as a rule, are more 

 likely to yield a profit from yearly dressings of fertilizers in 

 one form or another than the heavy loams of some other 

 apple-growing- regions. 



"But," objects the orchardist, "what is it wise for me to 

 do for my orchard before I can learn by observation and 

 experiment the best methods to follow? I want to do some- 

 thing now, at the start." 



The Pennsylvania Station suggests for apple orchards of 

 medium age a yearly dressing of 30 pounds of nitrogen, 60 

 to 70 pounds of phosphoric acid and 50 pounds of potash per 

 acre, supplemented with a legimie cover crop, which may 

 make the nitrogen fertilizer unnecessary. 



This dressing would be contained in 500 pounds of a 

 6-12-10 formula, or in a mixture of 100 pounds nitrate of 

 soda, 100 pounds dried blood ( 12 1/2 per cent nitrogen), 

 250 to 300 pounds steamed bone meal (24 per cent phosphoric 

 acid and 1 per cent nitrogen), and 100 pounds high-grade 

 sulphate of potash ; or you can add 20 pounds more of blood 

 and use 400 to 500 of acid phosphate in place of the steamed 

 bone. The Pennsylvania station finds in two-year tests a 

 slightly better color where sulphate of potash was used rath- 

 er than muriate, but Mr. Stewart tells me to-day that after- 

 5 years' observation this difference does not appear. 



It recommends less for younger trees, more for older 

 ones, and says that this is offered as a beginning, under av- 

 erage conditions, expecting to change it as experience indi- 

 cates. 



Annual applications of this sort with stable manure ( 10 

 tons to the acre) every third or fourth year will probably 

 give the best results. 



Brooks recommends for orchard top-dressing, presuma- 

 bly chiefly for orchards which are in sod, the following for- 

 mulas : 



Bone Meal 600-800 lbs. (N 21-28 lbs.) (PoOg 



No. 1. 



132-175). 



