12 



HARRISONS' NURSERIES, BERLIN, MARYLAND 



■ ■ ii|i 



JLdb « 





#fe 



When you spray, get a sprayer big enough — one that is adapted to your needs 



FERTILIZING 



Crops that pay big profits are unnaturally heavy 

 crops, and to get them we must feed the trees. 



Soil itself never is food for the trees — it merely 

 carries plant-food — and it must be finely and deeply 

 pulverized, loosened and filled with decaying 

 vegetable matter before roots can absorb the food. 



Decay is mostly the action of bacteria. Lime is 

 not a plant-food to any extent, but is much needed 

 by trees, to help them use plant-food and to help 

 put the soil in good physical shape. 



Make your soil fine and loose before you add 

 fertilizer, and you will not need to add so much. 



No two pieces of land are alike in plant-food needs. 

 Learn to know what elements are lacking, and supply 

 them in right proportions. 



Potash, nitrogen and phosphoric acid are the 

 plant-foods that have to be supplied. Nitrogen 

 usually is best obtained through leguminous cover- 

 crops. Potash and phosphorus have to be supplied 

 in chemical form. 



Nitrogen is the growing material, making wood 

 and size in fruit; potash goes into fruit largely, 

 making flavor and color; phosphoric acid goes into 

 wood and seeds, but only a fifth as much of it is 

 used as of potash. 



Cover-crops disintegrate and pulverize soil, add 

 to it organic matter, prevent plant-food from leach- 

 ing and (the legumes; add nitrogen. The kind to use 

 depends on your locality and your soil. 



Get plant-foods on the ground evenly, over a 

 space at least twice as wide as the branches cover, 

 and apply it at the right season. 



Double crops pay, but you must supply plant- 

 food and moisture for everything that grows on the 

 land. Do not rob the trees. 



Stable manure is one of the best fertilizers for 

 feeding a young growing orchard. Scatter the ma- 

 nure on top of the ground around the trees, at least 

 as far from the trunks as the branches extend so 

 that the fine fibrous roots can take up the fertilizing 

 elements. (See our book "How to Grow and 

 Market Fruit" for full information.) 



SPRAYING 



Spraying is a vital necessity if money is to be 

 made from fruit. It doesn't pay to doubt this, and 

 it doesn't pay to miss one season, even if enemies 

 are not visible. Spraying has an invigorating effect 

 on trees, besides controlling enemies. 



There are three classes of enemies spraying will 

 control — chewing insects, sucking insects and fungi. 

 Each class requires a different remedy, but the 

 remedies can be combined most of the time. 



Spraying during the dormant period is distinctly 

 different from spraying on foliage. Materials several 

 times as strong can be used and are needed to con- 

 trol the scales. 



On account of the life-habits of enemies, often 

 only two to seven days are available for any one 

 spraying. Do the work then. Put the material on 

 with force and cover every inch of bark and leaf. 



Get a sprayer that is big enough, that will give 

 one hundred to two hundred and fifty pounds of 

 air-pressure, that is adapted to your land and trees, 

 and that is durable. Get a power outfit, if possible, 

 for it does better work than a hand-pump can. 



The spraying programme ordinarily resolves 

 itself into two, three or four applications — one while 

 trees are dormant, with lime-sulphur solution, and 

 the others on blossoms and fruit with self-boiled 

 lime-sulphur, or diluted lime-sulphur, with arsenate 

 of lead added, or maybe with bordeaux and lead. 

 All applications must be guided by careful study. 



Borers will attack fruit trees in spite of all we 

 can do, and will kill many trees if left alone. Trees 

 must be gone over several times each year, and 

 should be gone over each April and August. Spray- 

 ing and painting with lime-sulphur sediment will 

 help in keeping down the numbers of borers. 



Keep trash and mulches at least 6 inches away 

 from tree trunks, and tramp snow about trees in 

 late winter, to prevent mice damage. (See our book 

 "How to Grow and Market Fruit" for full infor- 

 mation as to when and how to spray, what to use, 

 and complete formulas for making the necessary 

 mixtures.) 



COME TO BERLIN AND SEE THE TREES IN HARRISONS' NURSERIES 



