136 The Principles of Fruit-growing 



"A fruit-grower may assume that his trees do not need fertilizers 

 if they are vigorous and making a fair amount of new wood. If the 

 trees are not vigorous the drainage, tillage and sanitary condition 

 of the orchard should be looked to first and the fertilization after- 

 ward if then found necessary. Lastly, before using fertilizers the 

 fruit-grower should obtain positive evidence by experimentation as 

 to whether an orchard needs fertilizers, and what ones." 



Similar results had been previously reported by the 

 New York Station in a test to determine the effect of wood- 

 ashes and acid phosphate on the yield and color of apples 

 (Bull. No. 289). The trees were forty-three years old when 

 the experiment was begun. "The results as to color of 

 fruit lack uniformity and were not decided enough in a 

 sufficient number of the twelve seasons to enable us to 

 state that the fertilizers applied improved the color of the 

 apples. The influence on color was most marked in the 

 seasons when the climatic conditions were unfavorable to 

 the development of the fruit. 



"This experiment shows that fifty-seven years of 

 orchard cropping has not reduced the soil of the station 

 orchard to the condition where it needs a "complete" 

 fertilizer. The fact that plowing under leguminous crops 

 gives beneficial effects in the orchard shows that the soil 

 is having a one-sided wear. It needs nitrogen and humus 

 rather than potash and phosphoiic acid." 



These results are practically confirmed in a five-year 

 experiment by the New Hampshire Station. Gourley 

 reports that "Up to the present time (1913) we have not 

 received any cash return for the fertilizer that has been 

 used in this orchard. The size of fruit has been increased 

 by the use of fertilizers, especially by the use of excess 

 nitrogen and potash, as shown by the percentage of No. 1 

 apples. Both the area and weight of the leaves were 

 increased by the use of fertilizers in the year 1913, no 



