Orchard Fruits and Berries 313 



the reserves of potential plant-food in the soil, should, 

 however, in many cases be supplemented by those which 

 act more quickly, in order to supply an abundance of avail- 

 able food at special times and seasons. In general, there- 

 fore, a basic formula, the chief claim of which is that it 

 furnishes large percentages rather than specific propor- 

 tions or forms of plant-food, may be more reasonably 

 adopted for fruits and berries than for other crops, be- 

 cause it may be applied with advantage to all of the 

 fruits, the amounts to be applied to be adjusted to meet 

 the requirements of the different kinds of crop and the 

 different kinds of soil. Fertilizers which have been 

 found to be very serviceable for fruit crops have been 

 made according to the following formulas^ the materials 

 of which are familiar to all, and may be readily obtained 

 from dealers: (1) One part, or 100 pounds each, of 

 ground bone, acid phosphate and muriate of potash; or 

 (2) a mixture of one and one-half parts, or 150 pounds, 

 of ground bone, and one part, or 100 pounds, of muri- 

 ate of potash ; the mixture of either to be applied in all 

 cases. For fruit trees on soils of good natural charac- 

 ter, further additions of more active forms of the va- 

 rious constituents may not be needed, while on light 

 soils, or those of a medium character, or for berries, 

 they should be added. 



The chief point to observe is that an excess of nitrogen 

 must be avoided, and that if this element is applied in 

 active forms, it should be used at such times as to enable 

 the plant to appropriate it early in the season, and thus 

 become assimilated before the beginning of winter, the 

 danger from too great an excess of nitrogenous fertilizers 

 being that it causes a too rapid growth of both wood and 

 fruit, which do not ripen well. 



