Fertilizing the Orchard 79 



deficient in humus, whereas a cover crop will give 

 the poorest return on the land that is most in need 

 of an increased humus supply. 



Stable Manure is one of the best of fertilizers to 

 apply to the soil, having a fairly high nitrate con- 

 tent as well as being valuable for adding humus to 

 the land. Four one-horse drays will hold about one 

 ton of this matter in a dry state, which if spread 

 over an acre of land will enrich the soil with humus 

 to about the same extent as an average cover crop, 

 although its nitrogen-enriching properties are con- 

 siderably less. A ton of stable manure to the acre 

 would be a very light dressing to give, so light, in 

 fact, that it would be a somewhat difficult matter 

 to spread it over the land thinly enough to go round. 

 A dressing of four or five tons to the acre applied 

 every third year would give satisfactory results, 

 and keep up the humus content of the soil. 



The writer has known as much as thirty tons of 

 stable manure to have been applied to the acre at 

 one dressing on portion of an orchard which was 

 poor in humus. This added in one year as much 

 humus to the soil as would probably have resulted 

 from the growing of cover crops on it for thirty 

 years, with the additional advantage that the trees 

 received the benefit of it immediately instead of 

 having to wait for it for thirty years. 



The fertilizing elements in a ton of rotted stable 

 manure have been variously computed to consist of 

 from 6 to 7 Ibs. phosphoric acid, 6 to 12 Ibs. of 

 potash, and from 8 to 15 Ibs. of nitrogen. This 

 would be equal to about 21 Ibs. of superphosphates, 

 12 to 24 Ibs. of sulphate of potash, and from 75 Ibs. 

 to 120 Ibs. of blood manure. This is from manures 

 in a partly rotted state, hence containing consider- 

 able quantities of water, but the quantities of these 

 ingredients from a perfectly dry sample would 

 probably exceed this amount to some extent. 



