MANURES FOR FRUIT TREES 201 



In the days gone by, the horticulturist and 

 gardener were content to rely on practical know- 

 ledge only, but the march of scientific progress 

 soon taught them that if they wished to make 

 their land more productive and capable of yielding 

 crops of higher quality, they must perforce adopt 

 improved methods of cultivation, study the re- 

 quirements of their various crops more intelligently 

 and closely, and generally take advantage of 

 up-to-date scientific discoveries, especially those 

 dealing with the treatment of the soil and the 

 application of manures. 



In the cultivation of fruit trees the composition 

 of the soU in which they grow is an all-important 

 factor as regards their proper growth. 



Fruit trees require manuring, as the soil has to 

 receive back that which has been taken from it in 

 the fruits, etc., and this restitution is made by 

 using the proper manttres. We say by using the 

 proper m9,nures, for it is well known that many 

 substances which are foods for certain trees are not 

 foods for others. Consequently the cultivator who 

 is ignorant of the proper use of manures under- 

 goes double the labour and expense through 

 using any kind of manure to suit any sort of tree, 

 irrespective of the fact that different trees vary in 

 their constituents, as we have already seen, and 



