MANURES FOR FRUIT CROPS. 147 



chards need no manuring. Perhaps a crop of grass 

 with all its large amount of potash is taken off be- 

 sides. With such great and incessant drain on the 

 potash supply, it will not be long before that supply- 

 is getting too short to allow healthy growth of tree, 

 vine or bush, and a full crop of fruit. 



Phosphoric acid is used in only small quantities. 

 For these reasons bone meal, phosphates, etc., alone, 

 are not what is wanted for a fruit tree manure. 

 Potash is needed more than any other substance, 

 and unleached wood ashes is one of the best forms 

 — if not the very best — in which this can be applied. 

 Where good ashes can be bought at ten to fifteen 

 cents a bushel we will not often be able to get a 

 better or cheaper orchard fertilizer. 



Prof. C. C. James of Ontario, Canada, recom- 

 mended at a recent fruitgrowers' meeting the follow- 

 ing formula for compounding a cheap and effective 

 orchard fertilizer: 



40 bushels of unleached ashes. 

 100 pounds of crushed or ground bone. 

 100 pounds of sulphate of ammonia, or nitrate of soda. 



This quantity is to be applied at least once in two 

 or three years. It supplies about 120 pounds of 

 potash, twenty-three pounds of phosphoric acid, 

 and twenty pounds of nitrogen. 



Nitrogen, if such be needed in greater quantities, 

 can often be obtained in a much cheaper way by the 

 help of crops that are nitrogen gatherers (such as 

 clovers and peas, which should be left on the 

 ground to decay), than by outside applications. 



In a majority of cases, perhaps, yard manure is 

 the only form in which plant food is ever given 

 back to the orchard and fruit garden. Twelve tons 

 of it will furnish the 120 pounds of potash needed, 



