270 THE FARMER OF TO-MORROW 



shall try to show in the next paragraph, in 

 'carrying coals to Newcastle.' Again it must 

 be said that the soil in this orchard is about 

 the same as the average apple lands in Western 

 New York no better, no worse. If there is 

 any material difference, it is that this experi- 

 ment plantation has been better tilled and bet- 

 ter cared for in most respects than the average 

 orchard. But the trees have not been coddled 

 the care has not been better than that given 

 in the best commercial orchards. One of the 

 lessons the experiments should teach is that 

 fertilizers are not necessary in some soils if 

 tillage and good care be the rule the truth of 

 the old adage that 'tillage is manure.' ' 



It is the opinion of the authors of this bul- 

 letin that "the soil must be a poor fruit type 

 indeed, that will not, when properly handled, 

 grow good crops of apples without artificial 

 feeding." 



The experimenters find that the upper 

 twelve inches of soil in this experimental 

 orchard contain enough nitrogen for 183 crops 

 of apples, phosphoric acid for 295 years, 

 and potash for 713 years. However, they are 

 careful to avoid the position of seeming to 

 favor the "immutable assets" hypothesis, even 

 though their experiments seem to establish it. 



