PLANTING AND CARE OF THE ORCHARD. 47 



the largest amount of plant food in all soils and especially so 

 in the case of soils that have been poorly tilled for long periods. 



Each year a portion of the insoluble plant food in the soil 

 is made soluble or put into such a condition that the roots of 

 plants can use it. In the soils of the older sections the soluble 

 plant food is largely used up and sometimes only the amount 

 that is set free each year is available to the plants. It is this 

 store of food that we should aim to supplement by the manures 

 which we apply to the soil. 



There are some new soils so rich in plant food that nothing 

 is gained by manuring them. In fact, fruit trees on such soils 

 are occasionally damaged by the use of manures which encour- 

 ages a late growth in autumn, but such cases are rare. Prac- 

 tically all our fruit lands, especially those in the older fruit 

 growing sections, are greatly improved by the addition of 

 manures. This is especially true of bearing orchards. 



In manuring the orchard the object is to get the maximum 

 crop. The average crop or one just below the average is sel- 

 dom profitable, being generally inferior in quality as well as in 

 quantity. It comes in competition with the crops of all the poor- 

 est fruit growers and is sold only to people of small means. 



The application of manure is for the purpose of getting the 

 most profitable crop. It matters not how much money we put 

 into our land providing we can take it out with a good profit. 

 In other words, expensive manuring may be most profitable. It 

 is the best grower that gets the profitable crop. Manure will 

 not take the place of good tillage, insect protection and other 

 similar factors, but the well fed plant, like the well fed animal, 

 will overcome adverse conditions under which the weak, under- 

 fed individual will succumb. 



The elements that enter into the composition of fruit crops 

 are the same as those that compose our farm crops. They dif- 

 fer largely in the relative proportions in which they enter vari- 

 ous crops, but as our information about the composition of the 

 soils in which our plants grow is indefinite, and as we use 

 manures to supplement the plant food in the soil, we need not 

 be particular about the exact proportions in which we apply it. 

 Each grower should study his own soil conditions and the ef- 

 fects of different manures on it in order to get the best results. 



