26 MANURES FOR FRUIT TREES 



The art of manuring the land is of great im- 

 portance to fruit-growers and others, consequently 

 the cultivator looks to the chemist for useful 

 suggestions on the subject of manuring, and it is 

 greatly to be desired that simple rules should be 

 given as to the uses of manures. 



Certain substances are continually extracted from 

 the soil by trees and other plants, it therefore 

 follows that unless these substances are restored 

 in the form of manure such soils must lose their 

 fertility, and poor sickly trees, liable to disease, 

 will take the place of healthy ones. If trees are 

 continually extracting the fertilising constituents 

 of the soil, common sense dictates that we must 

 replace them if fertility is to be preserved. As 

 soils do not contain an inexhaustible supply of 

 these substances, it becomes a necessity that 

 different kinds of manures should be used in order 

 to keep the soU in a fertile condition. Many 

 apple, pear, plum, and other trees fail to produce 

 a full yield of fruit, not so much the result of 

 climatic conditions as owing to the want of proper 

 manuring. In the words of Sir Humphry Davy : 

 " No general principles can be laid down respecting 

 the comparative merits of the different systems of 

 cultivation, unless the chemical nature of the soil, 



