THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
we built a back to the south 5 ft. high, and the ends to the 
east and west, then put on windows, extending from the top 
of the south side down to the base of the north side. This 
will allow the light to enter but the slant all being to the 
north, the sun can shine in but very little. We like these 
lights so much that we wish we had put four more windows 
in on each side of the roof. These would have been suffi¬ 
cient to light the cellar, and we would have had to use the 
electric light but very little. To provide for electricity we 
set cast iron inserts for receiving bolts on the boards before 
the concrete was put on. Then when the boards were 
removed bolts were inserted to which strips of wood were 
bolted. The electric fixtures were then screwed to these 
strips. 
Protecting the roof .—The outside of the roof was painted 
with hot pitch to prevent water from soaking through the 
concrete. The pitch is so hard that it will crack and one 
part of coal tar to three of pitch would have been a better 
mixture. We are informed that if we had plastered the 
roof with one part cement and two parts sand and troweled 
it smooth it would have turned the water and answered the 
purpose better than pitch and tar. 
To protect the roof from severe cold we covered it with 
3 ft. of straw. As we only completed the roof in October 
there was not enough time for it to dry out thoroly, or we 
should have put on cinders and sand to keep out the cold. 
This we have .done for the past few seasons and have 
covered the surface with good soil and seeded it down to 
grass. 
Filling the cellar .—We prepared to invest several hun¬ 
dred dollars in material to make overhead tracks to convey 
cars on three alleys in the cellar, but before we had time to 
install it our fall digging began and the first trees that went 
into the cellar was a four-mule-team load of three-year-old 
apple trees. We found it easy to drive down the center 
alley with the team, unload, turn around and drive out. 
It solved the question of how to take stock into the cellar, 
as well as how to take it out in the spring. Beginning the 
middle of October, running two diggers, one with six and 
one with eight mules with men to pull and grade, and 
teams to draw to the cellar we were unable to fill this splen¬ 
did storage in the month before it froze up. 
The roots of trees should be moist when they are corded 
up and every other layer should receive a small amount of 
damp excelsior, shavings or moss on the roots. If this is 
not done there is a tendency for the stock to dry out in the 
center and bottom of the ranks of trees. We found that 
the heat from the ground would raise the temperature 
which we controlled by opening the doors. We use oak 
poles set in the bottom one foot to separate the different 
varieties and ranks. 
Recapitulation. An underground cellar is preferable: 
First, to secure even temperature; second, for durability; 
third, for insurance against fire; fourth, it is just as con¬ 
venient as one above ground; fifth, it insures sound sleep 
seven nights in every week. 
Cost. 
Excavating. ... $1,015.00 
Quarrying stone . . 650.00 
Drawing stone . 560.00 
Masons . 1,500.00 
Labor on roof . .. .. . 1,897.93 
250 bbls. of lime 110.26 
560 bbls. of cement 1,065.20 
55,845 lbs. iron 1,263.04 
22 bbls. pitch 94.19 
Use of lumber, etc. 375.00 
$8,530.62 
To this must be added grading, covering the roof with 
earth and finishing the work left in the fall on account of 
cold weather, which will bring the total to about ten 
thousand dollars. 
ORCHARDS MUST BE FERTILIZED. 
The constant return to orchard soil of all vegetable mat¬ 
ter produced, will keep up an adequate supply of nitro¬ 
genous material,, which will be annually increased if the 
application of acid phosphate and potash is kept up in a 
liberal way. Few orchardists realize the amount of these 
mineral matters taken from the soil to produce a great tree, 
or in the production of apples. 
A good crop of apples will remove from the soil three 
times as much potash alone as a crop of wheat on the same 
soil, and while in the decaying vegetable matter we can get 
what nitrogen the trees need, the supply of the mineral 
matters must be kept up if we expect to get large and perfect 
crops of fruit.— Farm Progress. 
WHAT FERTILIZERS ARE WORTH. 
The real and relative value of one ton each of several 
fertilizers is given by the Illinois College of Agriculture. 
A ton of fresh farm manure contains ten pounds of nitro¬ 
gen, two pounds of phosphorus and ten pounds of potassium 
with a total value of $2.34. 
Of dried blood, 280 pounds of nitrogen, worth $42. 
Of sodium nitrate, 310 pounds of nitrogen, worth $46.50. 
Of ammonium sulphate, 400 pounds of nitrogen, valued 
at $60. 
Of raw bone meal, eighty pounds of nitrogen and 180 
pounds of phosphorus, worth in all, $33.60. 
Of steamed bone meal, twenty pounds of nitrogen and 
250 pounds of phosphorus, worth $33. 
Of acidulated bone meal, forty pounds of nitrogen and 
140 pounds of phosphorus, worth $22.80. 
Of slag phosphate, 160 pounds of phosphorus, worth 
$19.20. 
Of rock phosphate, 250 pounds of phosphorus, 
worth $30. 
Of acid phosphate, 125 pounds of phosphorus, valued at 
$15. 
Of potassium chloride (muriate of potash), 840 pounds 
of potassium, worth $50.40. 
Of potassium sulphate (sulphate of potash), 800 pounds 
of potassium, worth $48. 
Of kainit, 200 pounds of potassium, worth $12. 
Of wood ashes (unleached), 10 pounds of phosphorus 
and 100 pounds of potassium, worth $7.20.— Peoria Herald. 
