FERTILIZERS FOR SHADE TREES. 341 



3. Lack of Plant Food. This may be supplied by a regular 

 annual dressing with a moderate amount of fertilizer put on 

 the surface. It is not practicable or necessary to dig it in. 

 If the surface is enriched, the feeding rootlets of the trees will 

 quickly find it out and develop most where they find most 

 nourishment. 



It is desirable, however, that experiments should be made 

 in the use for shade trees of liquid fertilizers poured into holes, 

 an inch in diameter, made for the purpose about the trees. 



To avoid complaints, not always quite reasonable, a fertilizer 

 for use in city squares should be nearly or quite odorless and 

 not offensive to the sight. 



We recommend for present use a mixture of 



Cost. 



50 pounds nitrate of soda @ $45 per ton $1.13 



300 pounds cotton seed meal @ $27 per ton 4.05 



100 pounds acid phosphate @ $15 per ton .75 



100 pounds muriate of potash @ $42.50 per ton 2.13 



550 pounds costing $8.06 



The mixture is to be made by shoveling the ingredients 

 together just before use and should be sown broadcast on each 

 acre of land which is directly under the tree branches, as soon 

 as the leaves begin to open in the spring. 



In addition to such fertilization, we recommend an application 

 of slaked lime to be made yearly, for some years, between 

 December ist and April ist. 



Five hundred pounds of stone lime, which is moderately free 

 from magnesia, should be sown broadcast per acre, after being 

 slaked with water. This quantity of lime will cost about $2.50. 



For stone lime may be substituted 700 pounds of slaked oyster- 

 shell lime. This can be bought here, ready for use, for i2 l / 2 

 cents per bushel of about 48 pounds in bulk, making the cost per 

 acre $1.80. 



The cost of mixing the fertilizer and slaking the limeif 

 stone lime is used should not exceed $1.50 per ton, so that 

 the total cost of fertilizing all the squares annually in the way 

 recommended would be between $11.30 and $12.00 per acre 

 annually, exclusive of the teaming and labor of applying the 

 fertilizer to the land. 



