STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. I9 



This makes fruit culture one of the most interesting hues of 

 work, for there is in it so much to be learned and known, and 

 the longer one continues in the work the more he realizes there 

 is to be discovered and worked out. At "Orchard Farm" we 

 began tree planting on soil that for more than a century had 

 been producing general farm crops, and naturally in that time 

 its original supply of plant food should have been considerably 

 reduced. This fact was discovered in the rather unsatisfactory 

 quality of the fruit that was produced. The question arose, 

 how to most economically bring up a higher productiveness. 



For a time we put in sheep and steers and fed for the manure 

 they would furnish, but as there were a hundred acres to be 

 laid out for orchards, it was a slow process to try to produce 

 enough manure to cover so much land. 



Commercial fertilizers were attempted but that required more 

 capital than was available to carry out that plan, and their 

 value was not altogether certain on this soil, which is a glacial 

 drift, gravel loam and limestone with more or less of variation 

 over the farm. 



It became evident that where stable manure was used more 

 positive results were observed, but as this was not to be had in 

 sufficient quantity, a system of clover culture was attempted 

 for the purpose of plowing in to furnish what the manure 

 added, the humus, which this soil had lost and which it was 

 evident it needed more than anything else. 



It was a struggle for several years to get a satisfactory 

 growth of clover; in fact, for three years on the same soil it 

 seemed more of a failure than anything that had been attempted, 

 but there was some gain and the policy was pursued until a 

 most marked improvement began to develop, when what seemed 

 like a discouraging failure began to show promise of real 

 success. 



From the time that good stands of clover were obtained, 

 marked improvement in the soil, in the growth of trees, and 

 in the yield and quality of the fruit have been realized. 



We have been carrying out some lines of work with commer- 

 cial fertilizers to cover a period of seven years. Four years of 

 the time have passed. We have used a complete fertilizer, feel- 

 ing that in so long a period of the production of cereals there 

 had been a depletion of the principal food elements in the soil. 



