flow to Apply Fertilizers. 163 
composted with lime or wood ashes to facilitate decay and neu- 
tralization of the acid. Oi winery refuse the lees are especially 
valuable because of the supplies of potash they contain, but they 
are now being largely used in the manufacture of tartaric acid. 
Other Waste Products-—There are available from various 
manufactories different waste products which can not be specified. 
When any such material comes to the notice of the fruit grower, 
he should seek advice from the Agricultural Experiment Station, 
at Berkeley, as to the probable value of the material, and its 
special uses. 
CAUTION IN USE OF FERTILIZERS. 
Besides the injunction already given against application of 
fertilizers when the soil is already quite rich enough to produce 
good fruit and plenty of it, it should be noted that manures un- 
duly rich in animal matter should be used with caution, as they 
may overstimulate the plant, delay or reduce fruiting, injure the 
quality of the fruit, and possibly engender disease in the tree or 
vine. Excessive size and puffiness of oranges is clearly due to 
excessive use of nitrogenous manures. 
The effect of excessive use of stable manures, or other 
manures very rich in nitrogen, upon the products of the vine has 
been frequently noted. 
METHODS OF APPLYING FERTILIZERS. 
Suggestions concerning proper application of barn-yard 
manures, both to young trees at planting and to bearing trees 
and vines, have already been given. The same conditions which 
cause slow decomposition of stable manures apply to any fertil- 
izing material which is not readily soluble in water. All such 
material should be in a finely-divided state. Surface applica- 
tions of ground bone, will, in the dry climate of California, lie 
practically unchanged for a long period. Ground bone should 
be plowed in as deeply as can be done without injury to the 
roots of trees and vines, and then, if the surface is kept culti- 
vated, it will lie in moist strata and decompose, or be seized by 
the searching rootlets. On the other hand, superphosphate, or 
other really soluble chemical fertilizers, will produce immediate 
results, and can be most economically used on light and easily 
permeable soils, on which falling water sinks and does not flow 
over the surface. In leachy soils a part of such fertilizers might 
be carried down beyond the reach of shallow-rooting plants, but 
there is little danger of this in the case of trees and vines. 
When superphosphate is used on irrigated ground, it is 
sometimes drilled in to prevent its being carried along with the 
running water. One way is to run a chisel-tooth cultivator 
