312 CULTIVATION OF FRUIT TREES AND FRUITS. 



In supplying fruit trees with manure, it is very possible that there is less difference in qualities 

 of the solid excrements than has been supposed. Their qualities will evidently depend upon 

 the nature of the food of the animal, the solid excrements consisting mainly of the undigested 

 portions. Thus, the cow and horse being fed exclusively upon hay, their solid excrements 

 will consist mostly of hay undigested. The following analyses will show the differences : 



Silex, 



Phosphate of lime and magnesia,.. 



Carbonate of lime, 



Magnesia, 



Potash, 



Soda, 



Sulphuric acid 



Chlorine, . , 



Organic matter, 



98-710 99-011 



The manure was made exclusively from hay, and also from the same hay ; and it will be 

 observed that there is a similarity in the composition of the two, particularly in the amount of 

 silex, which is quite large, and which shows that silex is scarcely, if at all, assimilated, the 

 amount in each case being nearly the same that would be obtained in the analysis of hay. The 

 amount of alkalies is quite small in the excrement from the cow, when fed upon hay. They 

 are richer in phosphates than that derived from the horse. The hay consisted of timothy, and 

 was cut, as it appeared, when fully ripe. An idea of the value of a particular manure may be 

 formed when it is known what the animal ate. For grass those manures are particularly valu- 

 able, as the silica will remain mostly in a soluble state, and ready to enter into the tissues of 

 the plant again. 



It will be obsererved that the foregoing fertilizers are not sufficiently rich in potash to be 

 well adapted to the production of fruit, while in sulphuric acid they will answer a good pur- 

 pose. Ashes, applied once in two years around the roots of trees, will supply the deficit bet- 

 ter, probably, than any other fertilizer. It is highly probable that the cause of defective fruit 

 will be found in the absence of potash, and the phosphates of lime, potash and soda. 



