52 THE FRUIT GROWER'S GUIDE. 



roots, and a good start is more than half the battle. The time generally to apply manures 

 is in the autumn, for slow decomposing kinds, such as bone-meal and kainit; spring, for 

 dissolved kinds, such as superphosphates, muriate and nitrate of potash, also nitrate of 

 soda and sulphate of ammonia. Their constituent elements of plant food will then be 

 available as soon as vegetation commences, and when the roots begin catering they will 

 do so in the most effectual manner. It is not only necessary to secure a vigorous 

 start, but growth must be supported during summer when hot sun tends to exhaust ; yet 

 the force of the manure should be spent by the autumn, so that the prospect of a future 

 crop of fruit may not be prejudiced by growth excitement late in the season. 



Surface Dressings. These are of two kinds, namely, winter and summer. Winter 

 dressing consists in removing some of the surface soil from the stems outwards as far 

 as the roots extend, but without materially disturbing them. This should be done on the 

 first favourable opportunity after most of the leaves have fallen. For using in place of 

 the soil removed nothing excels the debris of the rubbish- heap with a sixth part of quick- 

 lime, a tenth part of wood ashes, and a twentieth part of steamed bone-meal added and 

 intermixed three months in advance of requirements. Such mixture contains the manurial 

 elements required by fruit. It may be applied one to two inches thick, according as 

 enrichment is needed, and covered with an inch of ameliorated soil from the sur- 

 rounding space. Nightsoil mixed with earth, ashes, and gypsum may be used in 

 the following proportions : three barrowfuls of dry earth, two of fine ashes, and one of 

 gypsum enough of this mixture to be incorporated with the nightsoil for rendering it 

 so dry as to be easily spread with the shovel. Dressings of partially decomposed manure, 

 mixed with turf or loam, are useful for weakly trees, but liable to induce too luxuriant 

 growth in others, and judgment must therefore be exercised in this work. Eaw manure 

 must only be spread on the surface, leaving it until spring, then pointing it lightly under. 

 Liquid manure applied during the resting period enriches the soil, and is particularly 

 serviceable for trees that are enfeebled by over-cropping. 



Summer Dressings. These are of three kinds namely, 1, artificials, or chemical 

 manures ; 2, liquid manures ; and 3, mulching the ground with stable manure. Phos- 

 phates and potash salts are the chief components of artificials employed in growing 

 fruit. Nitrates of potash and soda are also sometimes used as aids to growth. Super- 

 phosphate of lime is a great stimulant of roots, phosphoric acid and lime being the main 

 constituents embodied in it, and these, with potash, which is the largest mineral component, 

 enter extensively into the composition of fruit, as is shown by the following table. 



