Monmouth weekly herald. [volume] (Freehold, N.J.) 1854-1860, 1858-02-04
Fruit and Manure.


We ask attention to the following facts
for facts and stubborn ones they I'M
doubtedly are, in a communication which
we lind in The H~orticuAurist for the pres,
ent month from the pen Of NJ. Berckmans.
Of New Jersey, probably better versed in
Fruit Culture, than any other man in the
United States.
To expect from a pear or apple tree the
most delicate, sugared, high favored pro
ducts, and that in large quantities, with
out the care, labor and expense given to
a corn crop or a potato patch. seems to
be folly. when we consider that in Natures
eternal laws nothing can grow where the
natural food is wanting. The trees of
our woods have their leaves, the decayed
branches and shrubs, besides the natural
benifts of rains and atmospheric inhu
ences still, When oak woods have had
their time, oak will grow no more in the
same soil, at least thrifty, and without
changing its constituents. 1t is o well
known fact that virgin soils produce spon-
~taneously first the noblest among the for
est trees, afterwards an inferior SORT, Gill
nothing but cedars or resinous plants will
cover the once rich, now wornout soil.
| am often asked why do the apple
trees bear no longer around here z or
when they yield a scanty crop, why is the
fruit so wormy, SO poor that it is hardly
fitted for the market? The reply is
very easy. The soils have worn out, not
only by fifty or more crops Of apples. but
also BY the grass, clover, and other un
MANFRED crops, by all which. the phos
pilates. carhonates, and the once abound
ing potashes of the old forests, have been
carried to market without any restitution
to the generous soil. So much for the
growth of the trees and their bcaring.-
Now, when it happers by a long interval
of rest the trees have regained some
strength by the natural influences Of the
air, rain and snow. nitrogen and ammo
MIA, they soon blossom and yield another
crop Of fruit but the soil has been so
long in grass, and SO long neglected, that
worms. bugs, and~a legeon ofinsects have
found in that undisturbed soil a pnrma-
nent home for themselves and their gen
creations and no sooner is a fruit set than
they are at work by hundreds to sting
and deform it.
A fruit orchard requires higher cult
walton than any other crop, because it is
cultivation in two stories, a crop below
and one above. All that seems so very
plainfthat | am often amazed when | see
very able farmers, who would laugh at
the idea of getting a wheat crop in a long
neglected soil, without manure or extra
labor look at their apple trees as if they
were, exceptions to the general rule, and
bound to bear, no matter how poor the soil
may be, because they did SO fifty years
ago.
There is truth in overlooking trees
In the very rich and virgin soils of the
West, where the trees are Sc luxuriantin
rapid growth, severe winters do great in
Jury j; we all know the results Of our last
winters in those rich prairies but here
there is little danger of overfeeding.-
Our soils are comparatively poor. and we
are better protected by woods, hills,
buildings, &c. Let us not forget that ar
tiicial products require artificial treat
ment. Our refined fruit trees can never
be 50 hardy as,the virginia. wild trees Of
the spices neither can they succeed id
soils where the wild tree can find supply
and food for itself and its coarse, small
product. The object Of nature is tie per.
petuatc to the spices by seed, ours to re-
duce the seed for the benefit of the pulp !:
what is only an accessory in natures
views becomes our main object. When
tie laws OF vegetation are ~introverted in
that way, our utmost skill and murturing
is required to keep up those artificial ere
atoms They can bear manuring and
feeding better than forest trees would
do ; and. If we do not initiate and swell
their limbs and too mnch Ammonia and
water, If we use the constituents re
CURED for wood formation chiefly, as
potash, phosphates, lime, &c, there will
be little danger Of over-feeding trees,
and | fear that for a long time to come,
the reverse will mostly be the case.