February 3, 1892.] 



Garden and Forest. 



59 



provides sufficient nitrogen in conjunction with a little farm- 

 manure. 



It should be kept in mintl that we are dealing with trees that 

 have occupied the ground for several years ; that have creamed 

 the soil ; (hat have already trespassed upon and robbed their 

 surrounding neighbors, anil that in turn have been robbed ; 

 and there is no escape from slow starvation if the trees are rea- 

 sonably thick and nothing" is done. 



And first it should be remembered that, for the good of the 

 trees and of the land, and for the total value of tlie product, the 

 amount of fruit raised on a tree should not be large, and the 

 quality should be of the best. Bearing this in mind, some ques- 

 tions arise. Is it not possible to prune the orchard by the same 

 rules which are observed in trimming Grape-vines? Our 

 grandfathers let their vines grow as they would, and they never 

 produced any really fine bunches of grapes. As soon as we 

 learned to control and direct the growth of the vine the value 

 of the fruit increased a hundred-fold, while the least possible 

 amount of fertility was removed from the land. Is itnot quite 

 possible that fertility might be conserved, and the quality of 

 King apples, say, be improved by reducing the length of the 

 limbs upon which they grow ? Is it (rue that the nearer the 

 total product of fruit is to the food-supply of the tree the better 

 the results ? or, to state it in another form, Are the apples im- 

 proved when the material of which they are formed is trans- 

 ported eighty feet through root and branch before they receive 

 it ? Is the soil of the orchard unnecessarily drawn upon by 

 growing too much timber? 



We assume that the fertility of the orchard has been main- 

 tained up to the time of its bearing. What I have said also 

 implies that the trees have not been unduly forced by manure, 

 but have made a steady, healthy growth, and have come into 

 bearing early. Just as a heifer is simply kept growing and 

 great care is taken not to overfeed or change the direction of 

 her inbred tendencies while she is young, and as she is more 

 liberally fed as soon as she begins to produce something, and 

 as she is fed moderately, liberally or very liberally, according 

 as she responds to the food given, exactly so should the or- 

 chard be treated. The amount and kind of food furnished to 

 it should be studied as carefully as is the ration of the dairy- 

 cow. What kind of food does the orchard want ? Like other 

 plants, it is likely to have enough of all kinds except potash, 

 phosphoric acid and nitrogen. How shall it be secured ? 

 Would it be best to get the annual dressing of fertility wanted 

 by purchasing commercial fertilizers, or by the purchase of 

 cattle-food, to secure the desired elements in the form of 

 farm-manures by the help of animals ? 



If the orchard contains ten acres, it will carry one hundred 

 sheep from May to October, provided one-fourth of their food 

 be furnished to them in the form of bran and cotton-seed or 

 oil-meal. One hundred sheep, weighing eighty pounds each, 

 will require for one-fourth of their daily sustenance one-half 

 pound of meal per head. In the spring they will want some- 

 thing less than this, in the fall something more. If these ani- 

 mals take ten per cent, of the manurial value from their food 

 for their natural growth, there will still be left scattered on 

 the land in solid and liquid droppings 228 pounds of nitrogen, 

 146 pounds of potash and 90 pounds of phosphoric acid ; or 

 22.8, 14.6 and 9 pounds respectively per acre. 



One hundred and fifty bushels of apples — that is enough to 

 the acre if they are good enough, and too many if they are 

 poor — contain about eight pounds of nitrogen and twenty-four 

 pounds of ash, thirteen pounds of which is potash, and one 

 pound of phosphoric acid, worth together $i.S6. 



How much the trees will require for increased growth, how 

 many of the leaves will be blown away, how much nitrogen 

 will escape by leaching and how much will be restored to the 

 soil by the clover-roots, and how much of the fertility pro- 

 duced by feeding the bran and meal the trees will be able to 

 readily secure, neither the theorist nor the practical man can 

 tell. No charge should be made the sheep for the grass, as 

 the work they will perform in transforming the poor apples 

 and the worms into valuable fertilizers will be a fair equiva- 

 lent for it. 



Summing up the case, we have the orchard raised through 

 skill and the unaided fertility of the soil. The draft made on 

 the land by the production of apples and the necessary growth 

 of wood, and the losses of fertility which may occur, are to be 

 fully met by restoring to each acre yearly, through feeding 

 animals upon it, some twenty-three pounds of nitrogen for the 

 eight pounds removed by the apples, fourteen and a half pounds 

 of potash for the thirteen removed, and nine pounds of phos- 

 phoric acid to replace the one carried off. It will be seen 

 readily that if there is any deticiency it is likelyto be in the 

 potash, as scarcely more is returned to the soil than is re- 



moved by the fruit ; so a dressing of potash is likely to not 

 only improve the quality but the color and aroma of the fruit 

 as well. 



The hundred sheep would consume in five months at pas- 

 ture 3,750 pounds of oil-meal, worth $28.00 per ton, and a like 

 amount of Ijran at $17.00 a ton, and the two would cost to- 

 gether $82.50. The value of the plant-food left on the soil, 

 computed at commercial prices, would be $43.07 ; but whether 

 it is really worth that or not no one can tell. Can a hundred 

 lean sheep, purchased in the spring, be made to gain $ioo.co 

 in value in five months of grazing and grain-feeding with a 

 half a pound of meal per day per sheep, or with the feeding 

 of three-fourths of a pound, if thought advisable ? I cannot 

 answer these questions accurately myself, and I leave tliem 

 for your consideration. Yet I believe that the orchardist is 

 growing too much wood, too many a])ple-seeds, too many 

 apples, too poor apples, too many badly colored and badly 

 flavored apples, and that this may be remedied by heading 

 back the trees in lieu of thinning them, and by furnishing to 

 the bearing orchard yearly a reasonable amount of available 

 plant-food, largely through the aid of plants and animals. I 

 am well aware that the methods here suggested will have to 

 be varied to suit local conditions; still I claim that the prin- 

 ciples involved are correct, and that if they are intelligently 

 practiced in connection with the best-known methods of de- 

 fending the fruit from its enemies, a great advance will be made. 



In the Peach and Plum orchards the practices which I have 

 suggested are not likely to be the best, as it will be found ad- 

 visable, in most cases, to keep these constantly under cultiva- 

 tion. But here, as in the former case, fertility may be pre- 

 served by feeding animals during the winter, and by preserving 

 and removing the manures produced to the orchards. I have 

 the utmost faith that this method of getting plant-food, through 

 plants and animals, will be found to be the most economical 

 in most cases. 



I contend (i), that the soil should be cultivated and plant- 

 food set free to the utmost limit ; (2), that leguminous and 

 tap-rooted plants should be used as plant-food gatherers ; 

 (3), that animals should be kept as much for the value of the 

 manure they produce, as for the profit realized from their 

 other products ; (4), that the least possible amount of stalk and 

 vine and limb be grown consistent with economy and the 

 health of the plant ; and (5), after having practiced all the 

 economy possible, if there is sfill a lack of fertility, in order to 

 secure the highest quality of product and the greatest net in- 

 come, that commercial fertilizers of a high grade should be 

 applied with a liberal hand. If it is found at any time that 

 commercial fertilizers give better net results than farm-ma- 

 nures, then there should be no hesitancy in changing from 

 one to the other. I believe that farm-manures which have 

 lain in the open yards or have been heated, and which have 

 to be drawn long distances, are far more expensive than are 

 high-grade fertilizers. Well-preserved manure is worth, on 

 an average, scarcely more than $3.00 per ton, and our experi- 

 ments prove that such manure, exposed in piles from April 

 to October, often loses one-half of its value ; therefore I am 

 led to believe that many tons of manure which are trans- 

 ported from the city contain less than a dollar's worth of sol- 

 uble plant-food. This manure may act beneficially as a mulch, 

 but, so far as the plant-food it contains is concerned, it is too 

 often an expensive way of preserving the fertility of the land. 



Notes. 



At the late meeting of the American Forestry Association 

 the committee on Arbor Day reported that the day was now 

 otffcially recognized and observed in thirty-seven states and 

 territories. 



We learn that by the fire which last week consumed the 

 greenhouses of H. Meyers, of Passaic, New Jersey, more than 

 3,000 plants of Clematis paniculata were lost. This shows the 

 growing popularity of this plant, which is of comparatively re- 

 cent introduction. Fortunately, time enough still remains to 

 get up a stock for the spring trade. 



Messrs. Burpee & Co. publish a circular in which it is stated 

 that the Bush Lima Beans which they distribute originated 

 with Mr. Asher Palmer,of Chester County, Pennsylvania. The 

 story goes that this particular plant, found in a field of ordinary 

 Lima Beans, had been cut off about half an inch above the 

 ground by a cut-worm, but that it had bent over and rerooted, 

 and the result was the Bush Bean. 



Professor L. R. Taft, horficulturist of the Michigan Agricul- 

 tural College, publishes the following hst of varieties of Beans 



