ON PRACTICAL PLANS 



chard. This has been found to be an extremely 

 profitable method both in the old neglected and 

 in the new orchards of New England and in the 

 orchards of the northwestern Pacific coast. A 

 small space about the trunk of the tree should be 

 kept free from grass. 



The experts of the Indiana Experiment Station 

 recommend as a fertilizer, for soil of fair natural 

 fertility and where a leguminous nitrogen-gather- 

 ing cover crop such as just suggested may be 

 grown, the additional use of a fertilizer having the 

 following formula : "A thousand to fifteen hundred 

 pounds per acre of a mixture containing one part 

 (100 pounds) each of ground bone, acid phosphate 

 and muriate of potash. On soils that are some- 

 what exhausted, 125 pounds nitrate of soda may 

 be added in addition. 



"In order to get the greatest returns from this 

 fertilizer it should be thoroughly worked into the 

 soil. This can be accomplished very well by ap- 

 plying it to the surface just before plowing. The 

 plowing and working of the ground will get the 

 fertilizer pretty thoroughly incorporated, and the 

 tree will soon show the beneficial effect of its pres- 

 ence. Hoe the ground often and keep it cultivated 

 until midsummer, then sow a cover crop that will 

 protect the ground until it is turned under the fol- 

 lowing spring." 



[49] 



