FEETILIZBBS AND PfiUIT. 19 



"We keep three horses and one cow, and buy about 40 tons of 

 manure and five tons of fertilizer. We use the manure on strawberries 

 and currants. We prize it for its mulching properties rather than for 

 its plant food. Like others, I have noticed that manure tends to wood 

 growth in plants and vines ; an excess of rich manure is as sure to do 

 this as an application of nitrate of soda, and for the same reason, viz., 

 it supplies an excess of nitrogen as compared with the potash and 

 phosphoric acid." 



" Then you use fertilizer in addition to the manure on your straw- 

 berries ? " 



"I should say so. I never use less than 1,500 pounds per acre for 

 strawberries, and oftener a full ton. I would consider it useless to use 

 less than 1,000 pounds per acre. On grapes I use 600 to 1,000 pounds 

 per acre. Yes, there is a limit to the amount of fertilizer that may 

 profitably be used on grapes. About 1,200. pounds per acre of the 

 Fruit and Vine manure, is, I would say, about aU average vines can 

 profitably use. Delawares need heavier feeding than some other 

 varieties." 



"Strawberries pay you, do they ?" 



" Tes, they pay well when well grown and large. Ours are mostly 

 Sharpless and Bubach. We average 5,000 quarts to the acre, one year 

 with another. As with grapes, I am satisfied that fertilizers give fruit 

 of better flavor and color, and firmer texture." 



" What about your peaches ? " 



" I use 1,000 pounds of fertilizer to the acre. I have experimented 

 with superphosphate and sulphate of potash on some of my trees with, 

 I think, fair results. But I never use stable manure in a bearing peach 

 orchard." 



Can Stable Manure be DiscJtarged ? 



" Could you conduct your farm without any stable manure ? " 

 " That is a hard question that cannot be answered off-hand. On 

 some of my clay soil I consider that some sort of humus or vegetable 

 matter is necessary to lighten and loosen up the land. If I could get 

 straw or other vegetable material cheaper than I can get the manure, 

 I would say that we do not need the latter. As it is, however, stable 

 manure is the cheapest form in which we can buy this mulching 

 material when we count the plant food that comes with it, and so it is 

 bought. Should you ask me, ' Could you conduct your farm without 

 chemical fertilizers ? ' I would not hesitate to answer ' No ! ' for it 

 would not be possible for me to raise the quality and quantity of fruit 

 I now do on manure alone." 



