Fertilizing Orchards. 217 
behavior of his trees and then applies such materials 
as the plants appear to need. Any of the mate- 
rials mentioned in the foregoing remarks may be 
mixed together, so that the phosphorus and_ potas- 
sium can be applied at the same sowing. It should 
be said, however, that if wood ashes is mixed with 
a nitrogenous fertilizer, some loss of nitrogen may 
ensue, unless the material is used at once.* 
Voorhees givest the following “practical sugges- 
tions” for the fertilizing of orchards: “A system of 
manuring for cultivated orchards, based upon the 
limited data at our disposal, may be outlined as 
follows : 
“To provide vegetable matter and to improve the 
physical quality of poor soils, apply yard manure 
once in four years, in fall or winter, at the rate 
of from five to ten tons per acre. To aid in the 
decomposition of vegetable matter, and to insure a 
*To answer inquiries concerning the prices of fertilizing materials, it may 
be said that muriate of potash costs $40 and upwards per ton, sulfate about 
$48, dissolved boneblack about $24, ground bone about $30, kainit about $13, 
and nitrate of soda 244 cents per pound. These prices vary, of course, with 
the composition or mechanical condition of the materials. The average com- 
position of unleached ashes in the market is about as follows: Potash, 5.25 
per cent; phosphoric acid, 1.70 per cent; lime, 34 per cent; magnesia, 3.40 
per cent. The average composition of kainit is 13.54 per cent potash, 1.15 
per cent lime. The composition of sylvinit (which is said to be known as 
sulfate of potash in some quarters) is about 16 per cent of potash, in the 
form of both muriate and sulfate, mostly the former. The fact that the 
soil itself is the greatest storehouse of plant-food is shown by the follow- 
ing average of thirty-five analyses of the total content of the first, eight 
inches of surface soils, per acre: 3,521 pounds of nitrogen, 4,400 pounds of 
phosphorie acid, 19,886 pounds of potash. Much of this is unavailable, but 
the good tillage and cover cropping which have been recommended tend to 
unlock it. 
+E. B. Voorhees, address before Mass. Hort. Soe. Mar, 28, 1896. 
