THE ORCHARD I MANURING, PLANTING. 
123 
Professor Wolff has also given the following result of his examination of the fruit of the 
Pear:— 
Analysis of the Ash of the Pear (whole fruit). 
Potash... .. ... ... ... ... 547 
Soda ... ... ... ... ... ... 8 *5 
Magnesia ... ... ... ... ... 5 '2 
Lime ... ... ... ... ... ... 8'o 
Phosphoric Acid ... ... ... ... i5'3 
Sulphuric Acid ... ... ... ... ... 57 
Silica ... ... ... ... ... ... i - 5 
98-9 
Undetermined Matter and Loss ... ... ... 1.1 
100 
The amount of Phosphoric Acid contained in Apples and Pears, is shewn by these analyses to 
be so considerable that they have been considered as specially adapted to sedentary men, who 
work with their brains, rather than with their muscles; for Phosphorus is thought to be the best 
brain food. However this may be, it has been thus demonstrated that the essential inorganic 
ingredients for the healthy growth of the trees and their fruits are : Potash, Lime, Soda, Phosphoric 
and Sulphuric Acids, and these must all be contained in good Orchard soil: but the mode in which 
they act and re-act on each other, so as to present themselves in a soluble form that can be selected 
and taken up by the rootlets—to be again modified by the action of the atmosphere in the leaf 
structure, is not clearly known. Science tells us these principles must be furnished to the plants 
by the soil, and experience proves the necessity of supplying the loss to the soil, and the great 
advantage of doing so in the increased health and fruitfulness of the trees. 
The best means for replenishing the soil with these materials is not difficult to point out, but 
they are not readily to be obtained on the spot. The ordinary farm-yard manure is deficient in 
Potash and Phosphates. It is too stimulating, and therefore more likely to cause the production 
of weak succulent wood, than of hard fruit-bearing spurs; and it is all wanted moreover, for the 
green crops on the farm, and for these it is eminently suitable, 
There should be a special place at every farm assigned to Orchard Manure. Its foundation 
might well be road parings and scrapings, with ditch and pond cleanings, mixed freely with lime, 
and to this should be added the “must ” from the cider mill. This material, useless for any other 
purpose and now only burnt, or wasted, should always be returned to the Orchard. It is not great 
in quantity, but it would always serve to indicate the Orchard Manure heap. 
The following materials will be found admirably adapted for orchard fertilization, whether to 
encourage the vigorous growth of young trees, or to restore the weak and exhausted state of those 
which have borne large crops of fruit:— 
Bone Dust 
Pure Dissolved bone 
Kainit 
Charcoal dust, or fine Coal Ashes 
x part 
1 part 
2 parts 
20 parts 
If these materials, carefully mixed, were lightly forked into the surface of the soil around the 
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