MANURING ORCHARDS. 1G5 



To provide vegetable matter and to improve the physical 

 quality of poor soils, apply yard manure once iu four years, in 

 fall or winter, at the rate of from five to ten tons per acre. To 

 aid in the decomposition of vegetable matter, and to insure a 

 sufficiency of lime as plant food, apply lime at the i-ate of twenty- 

 five bushels per acre once iu five years. To provide, in addition, 

 an abundance of all forms of available plant food at the times 

 needed for the development of the tree and fruit, apply annually 

 chemical fertilizers in the following proportions : 



Nitrate of soda 100 lbs. 



South Carolina rock superphosphate 100 " 



Ground bone • 200 " 



Muriate of potash 200 '' 



The amounts to be applied depend upon the character of the 

 soils, as previously outlined, the kind of fruit, and the age and 

 vigor of the trees ; these given, perhaps, mark the minimum. 



In a number of best orchards the quantities applied are very 

 much larger than is here indicated, and the larger application is 

 believed by the growers to be proportionately profitable. 



By the recent introduction of crimson clover, we have a plant 

 admirably adapted to supply cheaply nitrogenous vegetable matter 

 for orchards, and its growth is to be recommended wherever the 

 plant can be successfully grown, instead of the use of barn- 

 yard manure, particularly upon the poorer soils, until the}'^ are 

 abundantly supplied with vegetable matter. The clover should 

 be ploughed down early in the season, in order not to retard the 

 spring growth of the trees. Where the conditions are favorable 

 for the growth of clover, the application of nitrate of soda may 

 be omitted. 



I have in this paper presented, as fully as my time allows, 

 what iu my judgment seems to be reliable information bearing 

 upon the subject, and a careful review shows that it only empha- 

 sizes the statement made in the beginning, that there is urgent 

 need of studies and investigations concerning the food require- 

 ments of the various fruits. 



