GENERAL PRACTICE. MANURES. 45 



fruit. Lime is constantly disappearing, and as it sinks naturally, it should always be 

 applied to the surface. Everything that is taken from the soil and forms part of a 

 plant is necessary plant food. Lime when obtainable is appropriated by trees, yet its 

 application to land is neglected, and hence the unsatisfactory condition of fruit trees in 

 many gardens and orchards. 



The quantity of lime that is necessary depends wholly on the soil to which the 

 application is made : to heavy sour clays nine tons, stiff soils six tons, medium-textured 

 soils three tons, per acre may be applied with advantage. One pound per square yard 

 is a sufficient dressing for vine and all fruit borders that are rich in humus, applying 

 every year for three years, and then every second or third year, or annually in lessened 

 quantity. Enriched fruit gardens may have half a pound per square yard, but poor 

 land, if not sour, only requires a modicum of lime, as this will not supply the place 

 of other needful foods. 



Phosphates. Phosphatic manures are had from bones and coprolites, by grinding 

 them into dust or meal, that of ground coprolites being termed mineral phosphate. 

 When bones are dissolved with sulphuric acid we have superphosphate or soluble 

 phosphate. Soluble phosphate is a very acid salt, which may or may not be injurious 

 to vegetation. When applied to soils containing alkalies, such as lime or potash, it is 

 precipitated, and when iron (ferric peroxide) is present it becomes at once insoluble. 

 Precipitated phosphate is most valuable for fruit trees. When superphosphate lies for 

 some time it changes into bicalcic (twice limed) phosphate by precipitation, but a better 

 way of bringing about this result is to add bone-dust to the superphosphate, whereby 

 both become " reduced." This phosphate, though not very soluble in water, is readily 

 attacked by the roots of fruit trees, and not so quickly washed away as superphosphates. 



Phosphates have a marked effect on vines. The ash of the grape contains phosphoric 

 acid to the extent of 17 to 23 per cent, in the finest examples grown in this country: 

 ordinarily the percentage is 10 per cent, and upwards; the grape stone contains 27 per 

 cent., and the wood 15 to 19 per cent. 



Phosphates exist in guanos and animal manures, but often to a small extent only, 

 and it is the phosphates from bones and coprolites that demand the attention of fruit 

 growers, and there is scarcely a vine border, fruit garden or orchard to which they 

 could be applied without benefit. From 5 to 10 cwt. per acre is a good dressing of 

 ground bones or coprolites, or 3 to 7 Ibs. per rod of 30 square yards, and for fruit 

 trees in small gardens 4 to 5 oz. per square yard. 



