392 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



of further cultivation. In these particulars I speak more 

 from observation than experience. But I know an orchard 

 in a most healthy condition, where no fertilizing material 

 has been applied since the setting of the trees, except the 

 droppings from the poultry kept in the enclosure at the rate 

 of about seventy- five to the acre. Another stocks his orchard 

 with sheep, where they remain during the year. The hay 

 and grain fed during winter more than compensates the soil 

 for the drain caused l)y the annual crop. Thus an added 

 fertility is secured and a twofold profit realized from the 

 land, with little or no expense of cultivation. I have prac- 

 tised for years the pasturing of hogs and horses a part of the 

 season in my orchard, and to compensate for what was 

 carried off I have made annual applications of potash and 

 phosphoric acid. A person making a specialty of fruit cul- 

 ture in connection with keeping the class of farm stock 

 mentioned need ncAcr purchase fertilizers. But in the cultiva- 

 tion of the smaller fruits and vegetables, land in a high state 

 of cultivation will be required. 



In attempting any practical method for the restoration of 

 exhausted fertility to our fields we must at the start free our 

 minds of the idea that we can put into the soil and take out 

 certain elements and quantities of plant food at will, or that 

 we can take at a single cropping just what we have applied. 

 In water culture this might be possible ; in soil culture it is 

 not. We must always leave a large amount of plant food in 

 the soil and in the roots of the crop. As a rule the largest 

 crop is the cheapest. Thus economy would dictate the most 

 liberal fertilization. Then it must be remembered that there 

 may be already in the soil enough of one or even two of the 

 essential elements to grow the required or ideal crop ; if so, 

 it would bo placing capital where it would yield no immediate 

 returns to apply more of these elements. Crops are fastidious 

 in their tastes and will receive their food only in well-balanced 

 rations. 



Those of us engaged in the feeding and care of dairy 

 stock have read and thought much about the proper balanc- 

 ing of the different ingredients in their diet. Competition 

 has compelled us to learn and practice something of the sci- 

 entific feeding of farm stock. We know that when an excess 



