THE APPLE 29 



FERTILIZING AND CARE OF ORCHARD 



Stable manure may always be used upon fruit 

 trees, if properly applied, but it may do much harm 

 if improperly used. It should be applied sparingly to 

 young trees, unless the land is very poor, or an exhaust- 

 ing crop is to be taken from the land that will feed 

 largely upon the elements that tend to a coarse, woody 

 growth, i. e., the nitrogenous elements. The best time 

 to apply stable manure is in the fall or winter, on 

 land that does not wash badly, or if very sloping it 

 should be put on very early in the spring. Applied 

 at this time the elements of plant food are made avail- 

 able by the action of the frosts and an abundance of 

 moisture in the early season of the growth of the trees, 

 while if applied late in the spring the food is not made 

 available until the middle of the summer and a late, 

 coarse growth is produced that is liable to injury by 

 cold or disease. 



When trees reach maturity and are bearing heavy 

 crops of fruit, stable manure may be applied more 

 freely, especially in the spring of the bearing year, 

 for unless an abundance of plant food is supplied trees 

 are often seriously injured by overbearing, particularly 

 should the season prove a dry one. Such trees are in 

 the condition of the overloaded and ill-fed horse or 

 the overworked laborer, they are alike more liable to 

 the attacks of contagious diseases than if more fully 

 nourished. Trees that have been injured by overbear- 

 ing may be improved very much by the application 

 of nitrogenous manures the non-fruiting year. The 

 effect of such an application at this time is to stimu- 

 late the growth of the wood and lessen the development 

 of the fruit buds. 



This illustrates a law that we find throughout all 

 life, both animal and plant, that the causes or condi- 



