FERTILIZERS AND FRUIT. 25 



out interfering with the dairy. The dairy farm paid well, but it could 

 not maintain its own fertility and still have all the manure taken away, 

 "With all the manure returned to its fields it will pay better than ever 

 while the fertilizer gives cheaper and better plant food for the orchards 

 than the manure ever did. 



Mr. Hart's orchard is not on rich land. In fact it was only a rough 

 and broken hillside ,which, left to itself, would not grow corn enough 

 to pay for the labor. Tet in a bearing year it will flU the great cooling 

 rooms of 8,000 to 10,000 barrels' capacity. The chief varieties are 

 Greening, Baldwin, Ben. Davis, Spy, Peck's Pleasant, Kussett, etc. 

 In 1892 Mr. W. F. Taber visited the orchard and found the Baldwins 

 fairly loaded to the ground. The apples, as he said, " hung in ropes," 

 he counted 17 in the space of two feet. These trees are liberally fed 

 every year. Not only is the orchard fed but it is plowed and cultivated 

 for the ir-ees— not for the purpose of taking another crop away. Speak- 

 ing of the use of fertilizers Mr. Hart said he believed farm manure 

 tended to produce growth of wood, loose texture and light color in the 

 fruit, while fertilizers gave the reverse, viz., higher color and firmer 

 texture. 



A. Meview of the Matter. 



From the experiences of the men who have given testimony in these 

 articles it seems safe to say that certain things about /eeding vines and 

 trees are settled. 



As a rule, the best fruit growing sections are not the best for stock 

 growing. There are situations where the two may be profitably com- 

 bined so that a good supply of manure can be obtained. Fruit growing 

 is, however, a business of itself and should not be mixed with stock 

 keeping. It has been proved beyond question that successful fruit 

 growing does not depend on manure or stock feeding since fertilizers 

 alone will supply all the plant food needed by the crop of fruit. Several 

 of our large nurserymen have stock farms in connection with their 

 nurseries. This is a wise plan as we understand from what all have 

 said about the tendency of manure to promote the growth of wood. 

 On young trees manure is a good thing to apply. Mr. Hart's exper- 

 ience shows that with the crop of apples, fertilizers made the better 

 plant food, and that it is better to use the manure from the dairy to 

 grow better and heavy crops of dairy food. No dairy farm can feed an 

 orchard and support itself. No fruit farmer need fear for success 

 because he cannot obtain stable manure. 



As to quality of fruit, there is no doubt about the superiority of a 

 well balanced fertilizer. The testimony of Mr. Williams on this point 

 seems to me conclusive. Not only is the quality improved, but there is 



