1910.] PUBLIC DOCUMENT — No. 31. 17 



Cost of the Fektilizeks. 



The prices of the different materials used in this experiment 

 have been subject to some variation from year to year. On the 

 average the total cost has been at the rate of about $12 per acre 

 for the materials apjjlied to plots 2, 4 and 5. Barnyard manure, 

 which is a home product, may be variously estimated. If ])ur- 

 chased, the quantity applied would have cost somewhat more 

 than either of the combinations of fertilizers employed. It 

 may be that the cost of the fertilizers used in this experiment 

 is excessive. For the twenty years it would, of course, amount 

 to a large sum per acre; but in this connection it should be 

 kept in mind that the crops produced (hoed crops and hay) up 

 to the year 1902 were probably sufficient to cover the cost of 

 the materials applied. The weights of hay were not at first 

 taken; but from 1897 to 1901 the total product of the five plots, 

 I73 acres, amounts to about 27 tons, which must have had a 

 value, when standing, of at least $6 per ton, or a total value 

 of $162. During these five years the value of the manure and 

 fertilizers applied to the four plots amounted to about $28 an- 

 nually, or $140 for the five years. On this basis the fertilizer 

 cost appears to have been lower than the value of the hay crops. 

 Certainly it will not be the opinion of those qualified to judge 

 that the fertilizer cost is excessive for a bearing orchard. The 

 product of single trees this year on each of the manured plots 

 was worth more than the entire cost of the fertilizers applied 

 per plot. 



How AX Orchard should be fertilized. 

 'No one familiar with such matters will for a moment believe 

 that any one selection of materials can always be best. Cer- 

 tainly the writer is not disposed to claim that he knows what is 

 the best selection of materials. The combination of bone meal 

 with low-grade sulfate of potash in this experiment has produced 

 satisfactory results. It seems likely that in many cases similar 

 results would be obtained. It is the writer's belief, however, 

 supported not alone by his own work, but by results obtained 

 by some well-known private growers, that on soils naturally 

 deficient in lime, basic slag meal might wisely be used in place 



