CHEMICAL FERTILIZERS. 19 



coming in a measure solved in the large amount of chemical 

 manures now being manufactured. Of those kinds best suited for 

 the production of fruit, fine ground bone and potash are the best, 

 with more or less nitrogen to produce a vigorous plant body. The 

 best grades of bone contain sufficient nitrogen for most soils, but 

 for very poor land it will be found necessary to use some nitro- 

 genous compound like nitrate of soda, sulphate of ammonia or 

 animal matter. For an acre of Apple trees (forty trees) over ten 

 years of age, the following formula will give good results, varying 

 the quantity of the elements used according to the kind of soil, 

 and the crops, other than fruit, removed: 



250 lbs. fine gi'ound boue. 



100 lbs. high grade (HO per cent) muriate of potash. 

 .50 lbs. sulphate of ammonia or nitrate of soda. 



If the soil is very poor, as indicated by the slow growth of the 

 tree, more of the last element must be iised; if the land is rich, 

 and the trees are making too much wood, use only the bone and 

 potash. The effect of the nitrogenous elements is to increase the 

 leaf action of the plant; of the potash to cause a large develop- 

 ment of starch antl sugar ; while the phosphoric acid of the bone 

 causes a large development of the seed. For fruit alone, bone 

 and potash are perhaps the best fertilizer that can be used. 



As with stable inanure, the best time to apply fertilizers is late 

 in the fall or very early in the spring. 



Mulching. — Without water in the soil, no fertilizer or man- 

 ure will have much effect upon plant growth; and upon soils that 

 are liable to injury from drouth, mulching in some form must be 

 resorted to. In the cultivation of the soil, the fine, loose layer of 

 soil on top, is a most effectual mulch. 



Pruning.— The first year after the tree is planted it must have 

 constant attention. It is like a child, and its first years of train- 

 ing determine its character or form. After the main branches 

 have become fixed, as illustrated in Fig. 14, Page 13, all the prun- 

 ing the trees require is to give symmetry and regularity to the 

 head by pinching out the bud of those shoots that tend to out- 

 grow the others, until the branches become liable to injury by 

 crossing and rubbing together or until so thick as to interfere with 

 ease in gathering the fruit. While young, the trees should be al- 

 lowed to grow with a close head ; for when they begin to bear, 

 the weight of the fruit will bend down the lower branches enough 

 to let in all the sunlight and air needed for the perfection of the 

 fruit. The largest and best fruit is always borne upon those trees 

 with the largest and most perfect leaf development. 



Cutting of large branches should be avoided, as every blow 

 made upon a tree is certain to shorten its life. It is generally 

 known that cutting off a large quantity of branches, in the fall or 

 winter, will cause a great increase in the size and quality of the 

 fruit the following year. Consequently the farmer thinks he 

 must prune his trees annually. But this increase is at the expense 



