FRUIT CULTURE 117 



Fertilizers for fruits should contain all the necessary elements 

 of plant food the first few years of a tree's life, with a slight excess 

 of nitrogen during at least the first five years of the growing stage 

 of the tree. For bush or vine, a fertilizer analyzing 6-8-5 would 

 be about right. As trees, etc., come into bearing, an excess of 

 nitrogen is likely to cause a softening of the fruit and wood, or will 

 produce oversized fruit at the expense of color and quality. This 

 is particularly true in the apple, strawberry, and grape. 



There are many methods in planting fruit trees, but whether in 

 garden or orchard culture, it is always best to plant so that all 

 work can be done at the least expense. Straight rows in both 

 directions facilitate cultivation, spraying, and gathering the prod- 

 uct; and while interplanting of other crops may be all right for a 

 few years, it is not best to continue the practice to the detriment of 

 the permanent trees. However, in the home garden dwarf trees 

 and small fruits should be set between standards if the space is 

 limited. Such fruits as the gooseberry, currant, and blackberry 

 do better with slight shade than when planted in the sun, and are 

 especially adapted for interplanting. A great many of the best 

 new orchards and vineyards in the East have been developed by 

 some interplanted crop like currants or other small fruits. The 

 peach is often used as a filler in the Connecticut apple orchards, 

 while strawberries are very often used the first few years in peach, 

 pear, and apple orchards. 



The fruit grower of today has got to spray and spray often. 

 Insect pests, fungous and other diseases cannot be controlled in 

 any other way, but the question often comes up " What shall we 

 spray with?" In the first place we must consider what we are 

 spraying for. There are three essential points to remember: 

 first, that we spray to control leaf -eating insects; second, to control 

 sucking insects ; and third, to control diseases. Therefore we have 

 got to use three kinds of spraying material, namely, a stomach 

 poison for leaf-eating insects, as gypsy or brown-tail moth, a con- 

 tact poison for sucking insects, as scale or aphis, and a fungicidal 

 spray for diseases. At the present time the best stomach poison 

 we have is arsenate of lead, while soluble oils and lime sulphur are 

 the best contact poisons. Whale oil soap and tobacco dust are 

 also used in this way, but the effect of these latter is too easily 



