Tenth Annual Meeting 199 



ings, I spoke on this same subject of fertilizing orchards, and I 

 want to repeat now some conclusions which I made then. 

 Some of you did not hear them, and I can trust that the rest 

 of you have forgotten them! But they seem to me to bear 

 repetition. 



1. Broadcast fertilizers in orchards. It is better policy than 

 to sow around each tree separately. . . . You cannot throw 

 bone-dust and potash salts into any part of a thrifty orchard 

 where the tree roots will not get at it. 



2. If you cultivate, plow under the fertilizer deeply, right 

 after sowing. It keeps the main roots down where they belong, 

 and, if the fertilizer is turned in just above them, it will sink 

 somewhat as it dissolves, another annual growth of rootlets and 

 root-hairs will come up to get it, and, if they are cut by next 

 year's plowing, there is no harm done. Put your fertilizer where 

 you want your roots, and you will get them there. You can 

 call them as you can call a flock of hens. 



3. Don't forget lime in some form, as a necessary plant- 

 food. If you are using wood ashes freely, as many of our 

 orchardists are doing, your orchard gets all the lime it needs. 

 Over one -third of ordinary Canada unleached ashes is lime. 

 But if you use muriate of potash instead of ashes, try putting 

 on half a ton of lime to the acre every few years. It will settle 

 the lime question, and will very likely make your fertilizer nitro- 

 gen more available. 



4. Don't be afraid to put on nitrogen, quickly available 

 nitrogen, and plenty of it. Don't give too much thought to 

 the talk that nitrogen makes the tree run to wood and leaves. 

 A peach crop takes ofi from the orchard nearly as much nitro- 

 gen as it does potash. We found twenty pounds of nitrogen 

 in a peach crop, and twenty-two pounds of potash. We found 

 twice as much nitrogen as potash in peach twigs and small 

 branches. In the roots, limbs and trunks of the apple. Pro- 

 fessor Roberts found as much nitrogen as potash, and in the 

 green leaves two -thirds as much nitrogen as potash. Your 

 crop doesn't grow on air. It must grow on sound, lusty wood, 

 and only there, and sound wood must have plenty of nitrogen 

 for its growth. A well-balanced fertilizer will not make a tree 

 ''run" to this or that; a well-fed tree will do what it was 



