STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



45 



and are hardy and bear abundantly. But the apple is undoubtedly 

 the most profitable fruit for general and extensive cultivation. 



Fertilizers. It will be seen by the foregoing remarks on the 

 coarse soils of Maine, that I am a great friend to artificial fertilizers 

 and home-made fertilizers as well. There is, I firmly believe, a 

 necessity of using salts that contain alkalies. Nitrate of soda is 

 procured native from parts of Brazil and Chili, and it is said that 

 nitric acid is obtained from it, and has been somewhat used as a 

 fertilizer. As has before been observed, I have no doubt but 

 there are all the necessary elements of fertility in the soil of our 

 old fields and pastures, but they are so locked up in insoluble 

 compounds that vegetation can receive little or no benefit from 

 them. There is undoubtedly a want of soda, the base of common 

 salt, and potash, as well as phosphates and sulphates in a soluble 

 state to enable plants to produce heavy, well developed seed. 

 Hence the necessity of applying artificial fertilizers containing an 

 ample supply of all the above constituents Every tiller of the 

 soil of our old worn out fields and pastures should remember that 

 year after year for a half century or more, the elements of fertil- 

 ity, particularly the phosphates, have been withdrawn in the 

 shape of live stock, beef, butter, cheese and grain, and transported 

 to our markets, while comparatively little has been returned to 

 our soils. 



In order to be successful as pomologists or general agriculturists, 

 we should understand all the conditions necessary to obtain the 

 best and largest returns for our labor. Our lands, if flat and not 

 naturally uuderdrained, should be suitably drained (especially for 

 orchards and fruit growing purposes,) and if possible should be 

 hard wood or rock-maple soil, as fruit trees are not like alders and 

 willows, and cannot live in water ; consequently, care must be 

 taken to get rid of all stagnant water, not only from the surface 

 soil, but from the subsoil. Then the soil should be well cultivated 

 in every respect, abounding in all the elementar}^ constituents or 

 compounds that go to make perfectly organized trees, fruit, plants, 

 seeds and bulbous roots. Nature has stamped on all vegetable life 

 an instinctive tendency to produce perfectly organized seeds, 

 plants, and trees, that they may reproduce themselves in perfec- 

 tion ; and this cannot be done, if chemistry is true, without the 

 presence of the above described elements and compounds. 



Men of small causality often jump at false conclusions, and 

 ascribe to effects wrong causes ; and much has been said pro and 



