Fertilizers on Apples 135 



orchard, the soil of which is a clay loam too heavy for a good orchard 

 soil and not better than the average clay soil in the farm lands of 

 western New York. The orchard has been given the care it would 

 have received in a commercial plantation. 



"There are twelve plats in the experiment. The fertilizers applied 

 each year are as follows: 



AVERAGE TO THE TREE 



Pounds 

 Plats 1 and 9. Stable manure 415 . 15 



Plats 2 and 8. Acid phosphate 12 . 66 



Plats 6 and 10. Muriate of potash 7 .26 



Acid phosphate 12 . 60 



Plats 4 and 12. Muriate of potash 7 .26 



Acid phosphate 12 . 60 



Nitrate of soda 3 .67 



Dried blood 12 .84 



"An important consideration is that the fertilizers were put on 

 only underneath the branches of the trees so that a tremendous 

 excess of each has been used and the experiment, therefore, throws 

 light on the question as to whether excessive fertilization is delete- 

 rious to trees. 



"The apple in the experiment is the Rome top- worked on Ben 

 Davis, the Rome buds all having come from one tree and the stocks 

 having been selected carefully. These precautions were taken to 

 exclude individual variations. Cross-pollination is provided for, 

 there being over a hundred other varieties separating and bounding 

 the plats. 



"From the data at hand there seems to be but one interpretation 

 of the results of this experiment. An analysis of the soil before the 

 experiment was begun shows that at that time there was, in the upper 

 foot of soil, enough nitrogen per acre to last mature apples trees 183 

 years; of phosphoric acid, 295 years; of potash, 713 years. From this 

 well-nigh inexhaustible storehouse, tillage, cover-crops and good 

 care have made available all the plant-food these trees needed. It 

 may be necessary to fertilize some apple orchards in New York. 

 Such cases will be found on sandy and gravelly soils, on lands very 

 subject to drought, on very shallow soils and on soils quite devoid of 

 humus. Some soils may require one of the chief elements of fertility; 

 some, though few, indeed, need the three which usually constitute a 

 complete fertilizer. 



