CAJVA DIAN IIORTICV LTV HIST. 



FERTILIZERS. 



Potash for the Peach Yellows. 

 On the 4th of F.-bruary list Mr. J. 

 H. Hale, of Connecticut, reiul a paper 

 before the Massachusetts Horticul- 

 tural Society on the Cultivation and 

 Diseases of the Peach. With regard 

 to the points of careful cultivation, 

 annual shortening in of the young wood, 

 etc., nothing was elicited that is new to 

 us ; but it is worthy of notice that in 

 his experience muriate of potash had 

 proved almost a specific cure for the 

 Yellows. That part of his orchard 

 treated to liberal doses of this fertilizer 

 was free from the disease, while that 

 not so treated was saddly affected. In- 

 deed one tree which was sick with the 

 yellows, was cured by it. He applied 

 lOlbs muriate of potash, and five pounds 

 of nitrate of soda, and in the following 

 spring cut back the top one-half, and as 

 a result, by the month of August this 

 tree was the pride of the whole orchard. 

 He said further : As to the yellows, 

 the advice generally given is to exter- 

 minate the tree as soon as the disease is 

 noticed. Yet in the case of a tree of his 

 own, tlic essayist would no more think 

 of cutting it down than he would a 

 friend who had malaria — a disease of 

 which the doctors know as little as 

 we do of the yellows, yet they brace 

 us up with quinine, and we are able 

 to go on and do a portion of our share 

 of the world's work. A tree affected 

 with yellows is sick — not dying— and 

 should receive the treatment which has 

 been before described as having proved 

 an apparently effectual remedy. 



Clear Potash as a Fruit Manure. 



I HAVK used within tlie last few years 

 a good deal of potash in connection 

 with the trees in my orchard, usually 

 l)uying it by the cask for this purpo.se. 

 I simply break the potash into small 

 pieces, not larger than egg size, using 

 about eight pounds to an average sized 

 tree — which is equivalent to two bush- 

 els of good unleachedashe-s — .scattering 

 it upon the ground about the tree, in a 

 circle extending half way from the 

 trunk to the extremity of the branches. 

 When this is done in the fall or earlv 

 spring, the rains and snow di.ssolve the 

 potash, which will be absorbed and 

 spread through the soil, thus bringing 

 the fertilizing properties directly to the 

 small roots of the trees without the 

 slightest injury to the vegetation. The 

 future crops will show remarkable re- 

 sults, both in quantity and quality of 

 the fruit. In 18S5 my trees bore, as 

 did everybody's that year, a heavy ci-o|> 

 of apples ; and again this last year, I 

 have had, what few others had, a crop 

 nearly as large as the previous year, 

 which proved of a remarkably fine 

 (lualitybothin appearance and freedom 

 from decay. This 1 can only attribute 

 to the free use of potash on the soil 

 about the trees, proving,I think clearly, 

 what has been so often asserted, that 

 potash is a fertilizer essential to the 

 growth of fruit. It has been vei-y 

 efficient in my orchards, more so than 

 anything else I have used. One pear 

 tree which for a long time had small 

 and imperfect fruit, the spring fol- 

 lowing the application of potash pro- 

 duced pears of extraordinary size and 

 singularly free from blemish. I esteem 

 potash as admirably adapted to all 

 kinds of fruits, large and small. — Fnriu 

 and Honw. 



