Fertilizing the Orchard 87 



wheat seed drill cannot be recommended, unless the 

 land is ploughed deeply afterwards, as the drill only 

 penetrates the soil for a few inches, and the manure 

 is placed thereby too near the surface of the soil for 

 the roots to obtain, especially where the furrow 

 system of irrigation is practised and the water does 

 not leach the manure down to the roots. 



Broadcasting and Ploughing in the fertilizer is 

 theoretically the best way to apply manures, as 

 every portion of the orchard is then evenly supplied. 

 In practice, however, unless the land is cleanly and 

 deeply ploughed, all the fertilizer will not be turned 

 into the bottom of the furrow, and, moreover, where 

 the furrow system of watering is used, a great por- 

 tion of the manure will not receive sufficient mois- 

 ture to carry it down to the roots of the plants 

 because it is not evenly distributed. 



Manuring in Furrows, despite its disadvantages,, 

 is the best way to apply fertilizer where the furrow 

 system of irrigation is used. One or more deep 

 furrows should be ploughed along the rows of trees 

 or vines, not closer than four feet to the stems of 

 bearing trees, and the manure scattered in the bot- 

 tom of the furrows the furrows then ploughed in 

 and the new furrow thus formed used to water the 

 plantation at the next irrigation. By this method 

 the fertilizer is put deeply into the soil, thereby 

 tending to keep the roots down in their search for 

 plant food. By being in close proximity to the 

 irrigation water the fertilizer is easily dissolved for 

 the use of the roots of the plants ; but for this reason 

 an extra heavy irrigation should not follow the 

 application of manures, as some of its properties 

 may be washed too deeply into the sub-soil for the 

 plants to reach. 



