4° THE CONNECTICUT POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



have been made, which do not show sufficient of this plant 

 food to last for generations and generations to come. It is 

 most of it, however, in an insoluble condition, and it is fortunate 

 for us that the most of this plant food is in an insoluble condition. 

 Now I want to emphasize that point right here, because the 

 soils which bear profusely are the soils which are rich in quanti- 

 ties of phosphoric acid and other plant food elements, and which 

 we think sometimes we must buy. This element in the soil is 

 in this condition, and one of the most important problems before 

 us is to learn how to liberate and make use of these stores of 

 plant food provided by nature in the soil. Now in the breaking 

 down of the vegetable material of the soil, that breaking down 

 is due to the action of these myriads of bacteria of which I 

 have spoken. I do not care to go into that process, but through 

 this action the decomposition which takes place in the soil by 

 which acids are given off, and these acids mix with other kinds 

 of acids, and with the carbonic acids, and act upon the mineral 

 portions of the soil, and the result of this action is to dissolve 

 out portions of this insoluble phosphoric acid and potash, and 

 to carry it back in solutions to the plants so that they may drink 

 it up and grow upon it. So I would emphasize the fact that 

 there is in our soil an immense amount of plant food that is in 

 an insoluble condition, and that that food is liberated indirectly 

 through the action of the bacteria in the soil. 



I would also go one step further, and I would like to empha- 

 size the importance of water in the soil of our orchards. There 

 is no fruit grower here who cannot look back and remember 

 the small amount which came into his pocket in certain seasons 

 owing to the lack of moisture. There is hardly a year goes by 

 that our fruit does not suffer from the lack of water just at 

 the times it needs it most. 



I will venture to say, however, that in nine years out of ten. 

 enough water falls upon the soil during the spring and fall 

 months to carry the most of our orchards through the entire 

 season, provided that water could have been caught, or retained 

 in the soil, and I think it could have l>een. provided the soil 

 had been in proper condition. 



Now it is one of the principal objects in our systems of 

 culture in the orchard to provide for means to retain the 

 moisture that goes into the soil. We suffer year after year on 



