Potash for Fruits. 215 
the trees have reached bearing age. The store of 
available potash in the soil is much increased by 
the thorough tillage which has already been recom- 
mended, but in bearing orchards it should also be 
supplied every year in some commercial form. One 
of the best sources of potash for orchards is wood 
ashes, but this material is so often weakened by 
leaching that it cannot be confidently recommended. 
A good sample of unleached hard wood ashes 
should contain from 5 to 9 per cent of potash, 
but some of the commercial article does not analyze 
above 2 to 3 per cent. Potash in this form has 
a trade value of 4% cents per pound. To this 
value of wood ashes should also be added 2 per 
cent or less of phosphoric acid, now worth 6 cents 
a pound. Forty to fifty bushels to the acre is 
considered to be a good dressing of wood ashes, 
if it has been kept dry. 
Muriate of potash is perhaps the best and most 
reliable form in which to secure potash at the 
present time for fruits. Commercial samples gener- 
ally contain from 80 to 85 per cent of muriate of 
potash, or about 50 per cent of actual potash. 
Kainit is an impure muriate of potash, containing 
about 12 to 15 per cent of potash. An apple or- 
chard in full bearing and upon loose soil may 
receive as high as one thousand pounds of muriate 
of potash per acre, but a normal and economical 
application is from one hundred and fifty to three 
hundred pounds, if applied every year. Sulfate of 
potash is also thought to be a good form in which 
