34 



ordinary cases the foregoing program ought to be entirely 

 adequate, and it would certainly surprise most old orchards 

 to receive half of this attention. 



The fourth factor in our operations is the fertilizer question, 

 which is naturally very closely related to our cultivation 

 problems and sometimes has to be varied to suit the cultural 

 methods adopted. At the beginning I do not believe it is 

 desirable in most cases to apply any nitrogenous fertilizers, 

 or if they are applied it should be in very limited quantities, 

 and early in the season. A moment's reflection will show the 

 philosophy of this. Trees which have been allowed to grow 

 in sod, as the old orchards which we are considering will 

 undoubtedly have been, and in soil which has been im- 

 poverished by constant removal of the grass as hay, and of 

 the fruit, without any return of fertilizer, will have long, 

 straggling roots sent out to forage at a distance for all the 

 plant food possible. And these long roots will have com- 

 paratively few branches or small feeding roots, as it is a well- 

 known fact that roots branch freely in a fertile soil and sparsely 

 in a poor soil. Now when the land in the orchard is plowed 

 and cultivated, and fertilizers are applied, the conditions 

 become very much more favorable in the soil, and the roots 

 begin to branch freely in response to these improved conditions. 

 If the fertilizer has been applied in the form of barn manure, 

 as is often the case, this requires some time to decay and get 

 into soluble condition so that the roots can take it up, but 

 when this has taken place it furnishes a large amount of 

 highly nitrogenous food which tends to stimulate a very 

 strong wood growth late in the season. The trees having the 

 root systems such as we have described, long and spreading, 

 and having sent out an abundance of feeding roots all along 

 these original main roots in response to improved conditions, 

 are sure to take up an unusual amount of this plant food, 

 much more than trees which have had regular care from the 

 beginning, and which therefore have more compact root 

 systems. The result is that the growth is continued very late 

 in the season, that the new layer of tissue between the old 

 bark and wood does not ripen up in the autumn as it should, 

 and that when cold weather comes on it is no better fitted to 



