Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1874-08-13
How to Treat Fruit Trees.

In considering the growth of organism
| the action of the alkalies is to be looked
upon as scarcely less important than
that Of air and water. Lime is the great
animal alkali, and potash the vegetable
! one; its old name of vegetable kali eX-
! pressed that fact, and all the potash of
commerce is known to be derived from
wood ashes. The importance of potash
as manure has been frequently over
looked by farmers, who rarely know the
large amount of this material found in
grass, grain, crops, leaves, barn yard
manure, roots and fruits How potash
acts in plants, in CONJUNCTION with carbon
and slick, to form woody fiber, starch,
sugar and oil, is yet unknown to chemical
observers, but the fact of its action is be-
yOnd doubt. Liebig long since pointed
out that the chief cause Of barrenness is
the waste of potash carried off by rich
crops, especially tobacco, with no re-
placement by proper manure How
many millions of pounds of potash have
been sent to Europe from the forests of
America, and in the grain, tobacco and
hemp? Luckily one alkali may be re-
placed by another, and we have received
considerable quantity of soda from
European sea-weed and in the shape of
salt Latterly, nitrate of soda from
natural deposits in South America is
brought to us at a cheap price.
The point to which we now call atten-
ton is that our farmers and fruit-grOwerS
have ignored, or rather have been igno-
rant of, the importance of wood ashes as
a vegetable stimulant and as the leading
constituent of plants. Even coal ashes,
shown, both by experiment and analysis
to possess fair share of alkaline value.
According to our observation, if the
practice of putting "A mixture of wood
and coal ashes around the stems of fruit
trees and vines, particularly early in the
spring, were followed as Il general rule,
our crops of apples, grapes, peaches, etc,
would be greatly benefited in both quail
ity and quantity, and the trees and vines
would last longer. We will relate only
one experiment. Some twenty-five years
ago we treated an old hollow pippin APP
ple-tree as follows: The hollow to the
height of eight feet was filled and
rammed with compact of wood ashes,
garden, mold and a little waste lime
(carbOnate). This filling was securely
fastened in by boards The next year
the crop of sound fruit was sixteen bush
els from an old shell of tree that had
borne nothing of any account for some
time. But the strangest part was what
followed. For seventeen years after the
filling that old pippin tree continued to
flourish and bear well
Let us call attention to still another
point of Importance in fruit-raising. This
is the bearing year for apples and fruit
in general in New England; probably it
is also in some other parts. Now when
such years come the farmers rejoice too
much at their prosperity and abuse it, as
nearly all people do the gifts of fortune.
We should be temperate as to the guam
tity of our fruit as well as of our fruit
juices. By proper trimming and pluck
ing the apple crop in bearing years may
be reduced to but little more than half a
crop as to number, but the improvement
in size and price and the future effect
will more than balance the loss Next
February, March or April, according to
latitude, let the tree-trimmer stimulate
and nourish his trees or vines with fair
supply of ashes, and in nearly every case
he will have good crop of fruit in the
non-bearing year.
In digging a tree always turn the side
of the spade toward the stem of the
tree, and lift out the earth carefully and
ten small rootlets will thus be loosened
had preserved MISUNDERSTANDING
american.