320 
varieties; the character of the soil; the 
cultural system employed; the kind of 
cover crop; the kind of filler used; the 
nature and amount of other crops grown 
in the orchard; the availability of fer- 
tilizing materials; the severity of prun- 
ing; the size of the expected crop; and, 
to some extent, the character of the sea- 
son. The formula mentioned below 
should be taken as a suggestion only, 
and should be modified to suit special 
conditions. 
For mature apple trees on soil that is 
apparently in need of a complete fer- 
tilizer the following formula is suggested: 
Nitrate of soda (15 per cent or its 
equivalent) 200 pounds. 
Muriate or sulphate of potash (50 per 
cent potash or its equivalent) 250 pounds. 
Raw ground bone (20 per cent phos- 
phoric acid and 8 per cent nitrogen or its 
equivalent) 400 pounds. 
These amounts are intended for the 
annual treatment of one acre of orchard 
land. 
Soil Analysis 
The soil constituting the proposed or- 
chard site should be carefully studied, 
and if found to be lacking in the essential 
elements of fertility necessary to main- 
tain a fairly vigorous wood growth, fer- 
tilizers should be added before plowing, 
that they may become thoroughly incor- 
porated with the soil in preparing the 
land for planting. 
Scientists and practical orchardists 
are generally agreed on the great value 
of well-rotted barnyard manure for an 
apple orchard. It not only supplies hu- 
mus, but it contains a large per cent of 
other necessary nutritive elements for 
maintaining health, vigor, and fruitful- 
ness of trees and for the development of 
the proper qualities for a fine fruit prod- 
uct. But as the stock of this sort of 
manure is not always sufficient for the 
general demand, other agents have to be 
resorted to; and next in value and in a 
concentrated form are unleached wood 
ashes, which will supply, to a great ex- 
tent, the elements necessary to plant 
growth. It is maintained by some au- 
thorities that one ton of unleached wood 
ashes contains as much plant nutriment 
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PRACTICAL HORTICULTURE 
as five tons of ordinary barnyard man- 
ure; therefore, whenever obtainable, 
ashes should be used in preference to 
any other fertilizer. 
G. B Brackett, 
Washington, D ¢C 
Stable Manure 
Stable manure is the standard fertilizer 
of the diversified farmer and the stock 
raiser. The commercial fruit growers, 
however, rarely use this form of fertilizer 
in their orchards. The chief objection 
to its use is that it is relatively rich in 
nitrogen, which becomes available late in 
the season. The liberation of nitrogen 
late in the season is likely to keep up 
growth so late that the trees will not 
ripen their wood properly before the ar- 
rival of cold weather. Stable manure is 
a complete fertilizer and, when applied 
to the soil, supplies in addition to the 
three elements of plant food, a large 
amount of vegetable matter For this 
reason it is well suited to the enriching 
of vegetable gardens and corn fields. 
C. D. Jarvis, 
Storrs, Conn 
PICKING APPLES 
There are two important questions on 
picking apples. One is, when to pick, and 
the other is, how to pick. When to pick 
depends largely upon the time of ripen- 
ing and whether the apples are to be used 
for the local market or shipped to a dis- 
tant market. If they are to be used for 
the local market, they may be left on the 
trees longer than if they are to be shipped 
a considerable distance, and in remaining 
longer on the trees will become more 
highly colored, more fully ripened and 
more highly flavored. A general rule is 
that the apple is ready to pick when the 
seed is brown. At this time the apple, 
according to this theory, is supposed to 
have reached its full growth and develop- 
ment, and after that the changes which 
occur in the direction of the ripening or 
the breaking down process will go on as 
well off as on the tree. Some orchard- 
ists, however, depend more on the color 
of the fruit than on anything else. An 
expert can walk through an orchard and 
tell when looking at the trees, without 
