March 27, 1884. J 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
239 
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COMING EVENTS 
27 
th 
Boyal Society at 4.30 P.M. 
28 
p 
Quekett Club at 8 P.M. 
29 
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30 
SUN 
5th Sunday in Lent. 
31 
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1 
TU 
Narcissus Congress at South Kensington. 
2 
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Show at Edinburgh. Two days. 
THE APPLICATION OF MANURE IN FRUIT 
CULTURE. 
AT poor soil requires manure to render it 
suitable for the cultivation of fruit is certain, 
but how, when, and in what quantity it is to be 
used is not by any means so clear, for mistakes 
have so frequently been made either in using 
too much or too little, that the exercise of 
caution in its application has often been advised, 
often, too, in a manner so vague as to bewilder 
rather than help. As a safe hint I have re¬ 
peatedly said that soil which will grow good vegetables will 
grow good fruit, but even this statement must be qualified. 
We may plant a Cabbage in crude farmyard manure newly 
worked into the soil without risk of overfeeding, but to treat 
a fruit tree so involves the possibility of rampant soft pithy 
growth, instead of stout, firm, well-ripened shoots. Better 
would it be, therefore, to say that soil which by good culture 
has been brought into a suitable condition for the growth of 
vegetables may fairly be expected to answer equally well for 
the growth of fruit, meaning thereby soil thoroughly fertile, 
porous, and well drained. 
To reclaim poor land for fruit culture is so costly that if 
possible it should be avoided, but it has nevertheless occasion¬ 
ally to be done, and as the process will serve to illustrate my 
meaning more clearly than anything else could do, let us 
take it by way of example. After the drainage is done we 
have to see if the soil is deficient of lime and of small stones, 
if so the deficiency must be made good by the dressing of lime 
upon the surface, and of sufficient burnt clay or coal ashes to 
impart mechanical division to the soil so that air may enter 
and superfluous water pass through it quickly. A dressiug 
of old manure from the farmyard or piggery must also be 
applied at the rate of thirty to sixty cartloads per acre, 
according to the actual degree of poverty of the soil, of which 
the existing growth of trees or grass will afford a tolerably 
clear idea. The soil is then trenched, the manure, ashes, 
and lime thoroughly mixed with it, and it is ready for 
planting. It may be explained that when so mixed in a poor 
soil lime is of especial value as a decomposing agent among 
the manure, setting free its fertilising properties, which thus 
become quickly dispersed among and absorbed by the soil, 
where it is retained till taken up by the tree roots. If instead 
of so preparing the whole of the soil stations only are made 
for the trees, especial care must be taken to use enough 
shattered stones or coal ashes to prevent the soil of the 
stations from subsequently settling down too closely. Turf 
sods are frequently used in stations and afford a rich store of 
food during the decay of the grass ; but eventually the soil 
in which the sods grew reverts to its primary condition and 
settles dowm closely, and then our timely provision of hard 
gritty matter -will keep it sufficiently porous to promote 
healthy root-action. 
If we regard soil as the chief medium for conveying food 
to plants, we are led to consider what are the plants’ 
requirements and how best to supply them through the soil. 
No. 196 .—Yol, VIII., Third Series. 
However carefully we may prepare the soil for a fruit tree we 
know that as its growth progresses it takes from it food 
which must be replaced, or the tree cannot continue to yield 
full crops of fine fruit. How are we to replace it ? There 
can be no doubt that the best form in which manure can be 
applied is in a liquid state. Dissolve, or mix, nitrogen, 
phosphates, and potash in due proportion with water, pour 
enough of it over the surface to insure every particle of soil 
about the roots being moistened, and you have restored its 
fertility, as it is termed. But I prefer saying we have put a4i 
supply of food in it for the tree, because that reminds me 
that it must be done again in due course. House sewage 
undoubtedly contains plant food in a most desirable form, 
and if it were only turned to account in the garden there 
would be very little complaint of a lack of fertility in the 
soil. This was one of the earliest lessons taught me in 
gardening. My father used always to have a man and horse 
going with the sewage barrel during the season of growth, 
and the sewage was regularly given to fruit trees of all kinds 
with most satisfactory results, both in the healthy condition 
of the trees and in the remarkable crops of fine fruit which 
they bore. 
When we apply farmyard manure to our Vine borders and 
fruit trees do we know exactly what we are doing ? We say 
that the trees require manure, and we are giving it to them, 
but they cannot absorb one particle of the mass in its solid 
condition. It is only when its nutriment is washed down into 
the soil by rain that the roots, or rather root hairs, can 
absorb it. So that after all this is but a clumsy method of 
applying manure, often slow and uncertain in action, and by 
no means to be compared to the swift sure effects of liquid 
manure. In a kitchen garden the fruit trees are generally 
healthy and fruitful, because manure is regularly mixed with 
the soil near the roots, and there is doubtless a sufficient 
annual root growth into the fertile soil to maintain the trees 
in tolerable health, but even there a frequent supplementary 
application of sewage proves highly beneficial. 
Trees that are growing vigorously do not need manurial 
aid. The soil may, indeed, already be too rich for them ; 
still, if the branches are thinly disposed so that the sun can 
shine on every leaf, luxuriant young trees will be fruitful 
in due time. They will yield fine fruit too, not hard, dry, 
flavourless examples such as are produced by ill-fed trees. 
It is strong growth in crowded trees—shoots produced in the 
absence of light and air—that should be avoided. Thin out 
the branches of strong-growing trees, make the soil firm 
about their roots, and then—well, let them grow, for even 
strong growth made under the full influence of the sun and 
the roots in drained soil will soon be studded with fruit buds, 
and eventually with fruit. This attained, and the fruit 
swelling, the benefits arising from copious supplies of liquid 
manure will be most marked. The grand examples that win 
prizes at the chief exhibitions are almost without exception 
the results of a generous system of culture, and never, in 
fact, come from semi-starved trees. 
By turning the whole of the household sewage fully to 
account in combination with such solid manure as may be 
available, gardens generally in private establishments do not 
require the assistance of artificial manure. But in large 
commercial fruit gardens, and in certain exceptional circum¬ 
stances some private gardens, its use becomes indispensable, 
and then a judicious mixture of pure manures should be 
applied. The manures which I am using on the farm this 
year are procured separately, and mixed here all of them 
would doubtless prove useful for the purpose, and I may 
add the names and latest quotations of prices on rail 
in London:—Steamed bone flour, .£8 per ton ; nitrate of 
potash, £20 per ton; nitrate of soda, £10 10s. per ton; 
mineral superphosphate, £3 15s. per ton; ground Cambridge 
coprolites, £3 10s. per ton. 
Where only small quantities are required, recourse should 
be had to some prepared manure from a respectable firm, but 
No. 1852.— -Yol. LXX., Old Series. 
