574 



FRUIT CULTURE IN FOREIGN COUNTRIES. 

 Composition of the ashes of the fruit of the orange tree. 



"Weight of the ashes of 100 kilograms of fruit : Analysis No. 1, 3.57 kilograms ; analysis No. 2, 3.48 

 kilograms. 



Composition of the ashes of the trunk, branches, and leaves of the orange tree. 



Constituents. 



Anal.ysis No. 



3. — Trunk and 



branches. 



Analysis No. 

 4. — Leaves. 



Potash 



Soda 



Lime 



Magnesia 



Phosphoric acid 



Sulphuric acid 



Siliceous acid 



Iron and unaccounted residue . 



14.15 

 16.07 

 31.57 

 30.64 

 18.82 

 4.89 

 2.82 

 0.44 



10.18 



10. hi 



41,22 

 6.54 



19.47 

 4.53 

 5.48 

 1.76 



100. 00 



100. 00 



"Weight of ashes per 100 kilograms : Analysis No. 3, 6.32 kilograms ; analysis No. 4, 6.20 kilograms. 

 Nitrogen : Analysis No. 3, 1.57 per cent. ; analysis iSTo. 4, 1,60 per cent. 



Leaving out of account the material required for the yearly produc- 

 tion of leaves and buds, as to which precise data are wanting, and tak- 

 ing analysis No. 1 as a basis, the cropping of 16,000 kilograms of fruit 

 from one hectare will withdraw from the soil 571 kilograms of miueral 

 constituents, in the following proportions : 



Kilograms 



Potash 115.06 



Sorla 58.36 



Lime 171.99 



Magnesia 51,50 



Phosphoric acid 114.43 



Sulphuric acid (j. 17 



Siliceous acid 25. 69 



Oxide of iron (and residue) u 27. t^O 



Total 571.00 



Mtrogen,* 0.8.T per cent, of 16,000 kilograms. 



The absolute and proportional percentage of the mineral constituents 

 of stable manure is of course extremely variable. The following figures 



" G.iBparin, an eminent French writer on orange culture, allows 1.19 kilograms of 

 nitrogen per 1,000 oranges, Talking the average weight per thousand at 140 kilo- 

 grams, a. crop of 16,000 kilograms of fruit will require 136 kilograms of nitrogen, 

 equal to about 0.85 per cent of the weight of crop. 



