It will be noticed that while a crop of prunes takes ^°^'^ ^°^ 



practically no more phosphoric acid from the soil than a 



crop of grapes, yet the amount of Nitrogen removed is *^ 

 nearly three times as much, and in the case of apricots over 

 four times as much as required by grapes. It is evident 

 that a few crops of plums or apricots will materially reduce 

 the amount of Nitrogen in the soil, which is usually de- 

 ficient to start with and therefore this element of plant food 

 must be replenished or the fruit will soon deteriorate in size. 



Mr. E. Petrie Hoyle, who has 150 acres of prunes and 

 apricots in Orange county, California, says : 



"In my experiments and use of Nitrate of Soda I find that to apply 

 Nitrate when the fruit is set and half grown is best. If the top of the 

 ground is dry then cultivate it in. I used some Nitrate on nearly full grown 

 Apricots, cultivating it in, and the effect was to enlarge the fruit so much 

 that people who saw them thought they were Moorparks instead of Royals. 



"Nitrate doubled the number of melons on the vines and in no way 

 affected their quality. The same may be said of Apricots. Prunes made 

 larger fruit, but I applied too early to get best results. Time to apply 

 should be when fruit is half grown, and cultivate in to get the Nitrate mixed 

 with the moist soil." 



Unless it is known that there is sufficient Quantities 

 phosphoric acid and potash in the soils, dis- j^gquj^g^j and 

 solved bone (superphosphate of lime) or ^.^^ ^^ Apply, 

 bone meal, and if necessary to furnish pot- 

 ash, muriate of potash or wood ashes should be applied early 

 in the winter or earlv spring. Two or three pounds of bone 

 and (if necessarv) one pound muriate of potash or ten 

 pounds unbleached wood ashes per tree would be about the 

 right quantities. The Nitrate of Soda should be applied 

 after the fruit is set at the rate of 2 to 2 1^ pounds per tree. 



It is important that the fertilizers should be well mixed 

 with the soil, and that they be applied not close to the 

 trunks of the trees, but considerably further out than the 

 branches reach. 



After investigating the requirements ot Pj 



the fig. Professor George E. Colby, of the 

 University of California Experiment Station, says: 



"The Fig leads among our fruits in its demand upon the soil for this 

 substance (Nitrogen). Thus we find for the southern localities especially, 

 the same necessity of early replacement of Nitrogen in figs and stone fruit as 

 for Orange orchards, and partly for the same reason, viz., that California 

 soils are usually not rich in their natural supply of this substance." 



