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the holding of soil, fertilizer, and moisture, and the saving of tractor 

 fuel. A disadvantage is a restriction in the movement of heavy implements 

 through the orchard, which can be only on the contour or level and not up 

 and down the slope. But this restriction frequently develops in orchards 

 on sloping land after a number of years whether or not they were planted on 

 the exact contour. It is not uncommon to see old orchards in which crude 

 bench terraces have developed, which practically prohibit movement of ve- 

 hicles and implements up and dovm the slope. Then, why not plant on the 

 contour and have these terraces develop in the right v/ay? 



The possible saving of soil and fertilizer on cultivated sloping 

 land is obvious. But it is frequently pointed out that orchards, especially 

 apple orchards, are nov; kept in sod and therefore would not benefit from 

 contour planting. However, young apple orchards are often cultivated during 

 the first fev; years of their development, and during that period they stand 

 to benefit from the conservation of soil, fertilizer, and moisture, and later 

 when in permanent sod they may benefit from the saving of moisture and fer- 

 tilizer. In about one out of every three or four years additional soil 

 moisture will improve the crop. There is a terraced peach orchard at the 

 Massachusetts State College. V/ithin a dry spell in the summer of 1940 the 

 soil in this orchard was found to contain a little more than tv/ice as much 

 moisture as was found in adjoining land which was not terraced. Practically 

 all the rain that fell during the dry spell cajne in flash shovrers and was 

 held on the terraced slope, whereas mueh of it ran off the non-terraced slope. 



Contour planting of orchards is comparatively simple and easy. 

 If interested in this method, consult your county agent, the extension horti- 

 culturist, or the undersigned, 



— A. B. Beaumont 



L IIJE AND tlAIJUKE 



"Lime and lime v/ithout manure, make both farm and farmer poor," 

 is an old rural proverb that expresses a basic truth. Both materials or 

 their equivalents are needed to build and maintain fertility. They ere most 

 commonly added to the soil separately, and that is the most fool-proof method 

 of application, but now that farm labor is one of the biggest problems of 

 production the question may well be asked if these tv/o soil amendments may 

 not be spread together. 



Some pertinent data bearing on this question have come recently 

 from the Vermont Experiment Station. They shov/ that ground limestone may 

 be mixed with both fresh and fermented cow manure with scarcely any loss 

 of ammonia. Caustic lime caused no loss in fresh manure, even lessened it 

 in some cases by delaying amnonif ication; but it did expel some ammonia from 

 fermented manure. Even in the latter case the authors of the report think 

 that the saving in time and labor may offset the loss of ammonia. 



Perhaps the most important factor in saving the ammonia of manure 

 is moisture. At 20° C. a given volume of water \iill dissolve about 700 vol- 

 umes of ammonia gas. If manure is kept v/ell moistened there is little danger 

 of ammonia loss, but if it is allov/ed to dry, lime or no lime, the ammonia 

 loss may be considerable. This point emphasizes the value of plowing under 



