THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN. 
37 
nitrate of soda, but this too was a failure, and I almost 
despaired of success. 
During the following winter it was my good fortune 
to attend a lecture delivered by Dr. Calder of Harrisburg, 
in the course of which he advised the use of muriate of 
potash on old orchards to ensure a good growth of wood ; 
here I had just what I wanted ; and just what I have 
used for five years, on apple peach, plum, apricot, cherry 
and quince, and which has never failed to produce the 
results desired. In using muriate of potash we get 82 
per cent, of plant food which our trees take up at once, 
while we handle only a small portion of unavailable matter; 
while in the use of almost all other fertilizing material we 
are compelled to handle a very large per cent, of unprofit¬ 
able material. For instance, in the use of kainit we get 
about I 3 per cent, of potash and 87 per cent, of material 
having little or no value to the nurseryman ; hence to get 
as much potash from kainit as we get from one ton of 
muriate, we must buy more than six tons of the former, 
which will cost about thirty dollars more than one ton of 
muriate, to say nothing of the difference in the cost of 
transportation and labor of applying six tons of kainit 
against tbe cost of transportation and labor of applying 
one ton of muriate. 
My mode of applying fertilizer of any kind to trees 
growing in nursery-row is, first to cut the ground away 
from both sides of the row with an ‘ ‘ Iron Age ’ ’ cultivator, 
then knock the middle out with a heavy hoe, after which 
the fertilizer is distributed evenly along in the row, getting 
it as close to the roots of the trees as possible, or even 
on them, if we can. The ground is immediately turned 
back on the trees as soon as the fertilizer is applied. I 
prefer this plan to that of sowing the fertilizer broad-cast, 
especially when the trees have passed the second year. 
Care must be taken not to apply muriate of potash too 
late in the season, never after June ist, or you stimulate 
a growth which will continue late in the fall, and not be 
able to withstand a severe winter. I use generally from 
200 to 300 pounds per acre, and apply as early as possible, 
last of April or first of May. 
I have found it a good plan to apply a mixture of 
dissolved bone and muriate of potash on my nursery 
ground before planting. I use from five to eight hundred 
pounds of bone and two hundred pounds of potash per 
acre, well mixed and drilled in quite deep, as soon as the 
ground has been ploughed. I have had poor success 
applying fertilizer a year or two in advance of the plant¬ 
ing, as is sometimes advised. 
My experience with manure for trees has been quite 
limited, but it seems to me tbe cost would over-run the 
profit, and I would value it more for its ability to put the 
ground in good mechanical condition and to keep it loose 
and pliable, than for its fertilizing qualities. 
In support of my potash theory, I will add, in conclu¬ 
sion, that nearly all the prepared fertilizers show on 
analysis of from 15 to 22 per cent, of available plant 
food, the remaining 80 per cent, of what—on which we 
are asked to pay freight and cost of handling ? Then 
remember, that of this possible 20 per cent, of plant food 
your trees will likely appropriate 10 per cent., the balance 
remaining in the ground to be used by succeeding crops 
of grain and grass. 
Floradale, Pa. C. L. Longsdorf. 
Clmong (Broilers anb Dealers. 
Professor John H. Comstock, of Cornell and Leland 
Stanford Universities, the well-known entomologist, is 
busily engaged in the production of a text book at Palo 
Alto, California. 
The Astoria Nurseries, at Long Island City, N.,Y., 
lately operated by Mrs. Hewitt, nee Coffin, have been 
leased by a company, and will be conducted under the 
management of Thomas G. Williams. 
The Salt Lake City Nursery Company has been 
incorporated with a capital stock of $25,000 in 25,000 
shares. Martin Christopherson is president ; Robert 
Wills, vice-president ; and John Gabott, secretary. 
C. F. McNair, of Dansville, has returned from an 
extended visit to Philadelphia, where he went for treat¬ 
ment for chronic illness. He has been sick during the 
last year. His cousin has had charge of the business 
during his absence. 
Colonel U. B. Pearsall, secretary and treasurer of 
the Hart Pioneer Nurseries, of Fort Scott, Kansas, 
made a flying trip East on business last month. He 
will visit Rochester and other eastern points again next 
month. He reports business brisk in his section. 
Lewis Chase, recently returned from a winter’s 
sojourn in the South, says that the land in his nursery 
of 1,000 acres in Alabama is a clay loam with a mix¬ 
ture of iron and that it is especially adapted to the 
growing of cherries, American plums, Japanese plums, 
standard pears and all shrubs and roses. 
J. H. Shepard, formerly superintendent of Oakland 
Cemetery, Chicago, ha.s been engaged as superintend¬ 
ent of Riverside Cemetery, this city. He will superin¬ 
tend the planting of 3,000 trees and shrubs ordered 
from Ellwanger & Barry’s nurseries, including nearly 
every variety used in landscape gardening. 
The Smith Nursery Company, of Springfield, Ohio, 
has been incorporated with a capital stock of 
$180,000. The incorporators are W H. Smith, Frank 
Smith, Iowa Smith, George Smith, and D. P. Jeffries. 
The nursery firms of W. H. Smith & Son, Iowa 
Smith & Co., and Smith’s Nursery Company, will be 
merged into one company and will move their office, 
stock, etc., to Springfield. 
