84 



lion of slag and potash will give you just th& same results 

 M'iili clover and I want to s rongly commend to your fav- 

 orable consideration a combination of slag and the low 

 grade sulphate of potash in manuring of orchards. I be- 

 lieve it will give you as good results as in any other way. 



You may want to know about apples in sod as com- 

 pared with those under cultiva ion. This I do not know 

 about as my experiment has been with an orchard in sod. 

 I believe it is primarily a question as to whether the soil 

 can supply both the trees and the sod wiih the mois ure 

 it needs. In this case I believe it does, but these conditions 

 are not uniformly met wi h and J don't think it would be 

 possible in the lighter soils. It is an easy enough matter 

 to supply both with food. That you can do and you can 

 raise both hay and fruit in the same orchard. There are 

 many finding a great deal of difference in the color of the 

 fruit and it seems to be in favor of the sod system. 



DISCUSSION 



Q. How much slag would you use? 



That would vary with the soil. 



Mr. Eace. This talk has been worth all that it cost me 

 to come here. I have an orchard that was set in 1879. It is 

 a well-kept and well preserved orchard. It is a good one. 

 The matter of fertilizing has been a question with me. I 

 am in favor of cultivation for some orchards no matter what 

 the age is, so 2 years ago I put on a dressing of muria+e 

 of potash, sowed it broadcast, let it get into the soil as it 

 could, then put on barnyard manure, about the amount that 

 you spoke of. I put it on in piles in the winter and in the 

 spring I spread it out but I did not like to leave it in that 

 condition so I put on muriate of potash and harrowed it just 

 as soon as the frost was out, then sowed down to clover 

 and the results have been that I had the only good crop of 

 apples in South Berkshire this last fall. Now, Avhat would 

 you think of that treatment? 



I would advise, I think, that you would better use 

 sulphate rather than muriate of potash and use slag. 



Would say that everything that we have put on this 

 orchard (experiment) we have spread on uniformly over 

 the ground. I think clean circles should be left around the 

 trunks with no manure right near. This does moer harm 

 than good for it makes homes for insects and mice. We 



