The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1877-1885, 1879-06-12
Fertilize the Fruit Trees.

that their apple, peach ana pear oICh-
ards can take care of themselves. The
| roots can stretch themselves a little. but
their ~foraeing ground is limited. and TO
| suppose that within this limited space
| food can be found to sustain growth and
bear fruit for decades OF years, without
any re-supply of the raw material, Is
unreasonable. No wonder that so many
of our orchards show moss-grown
trunks, decayed branches and stunted
fruit. Forest trees live and thrive by
| neglect, as the ground on which they
stand is taxed with no other crop, and
is yearly enriched by the falling leaves,
which keep the trees well munched, and
furnish, whendecomposed, the pabulum
demanded for the growth Of the trees.
Indeed, a forest will restore vigor and
fertility to any WORKOUT soil, as the
roots penetrate deeply in search of
earthly inorganic food, and the leaves
derive most of their nourishment
(organic) from the air. As all that
forest trees produce is left to f%ertilize
the soil on which they grow, there must
be an accumulation of fertility. Not
SO in our fruit orchards. There the
ground is taxed for the support of three
crops-a crop of grass, grain or roots, a
crop of wood, and a crop of fruit, and
the trees are SO far apart that the soil Is
little benefited by the falling leaves,
these being mostly driven away by the
winds. But | need not dwell on the
necessity of furnishing food for the
grass or other crops which orchards are
generally compelled to furnish, and at
the same time make a good growth of
wood and yield an abundance of fair
fruit. This necessity is 81 obvious that
intelligent farmers appreciate it, if they
do not practice according to their faith
and the slow, slovenly farmers whose
premises show neglect, probably do not
read an agricultural paper, and there
is no use in talking to them.
Among wide-awake fruit-culturists,
however, there is a difference Of opinion
as to the best mode of keeping up the
fertility of an orchard, ard to this class
| address myself, promising that my
conclusions, though drawn from q long
personal experience, and not a limited
observation of the practices OF others,
trees for the first orchard | set out were
obtained from the late Judge Buel,
then editing the Albany Cuttirator, and
he told me to keep the orchard under
the plow, raising roots, but no grass or
grain. L esteemed him as an oracle in
all matters pertaining to horticulture,
and followed his precepts. For a mum
Der Of years | gave a garden cultivation
to my orchard, blowing deeply and fer
tilizing with strong, heterogeneous manure
from the stables. The trees grew luxu-
riantly, and oon began to yield splendid
fruit, and an abundance of it; but here
and there a limb would blight. ugly
cracks would occur between the limbs
and trunks, the pillow bruised the roots
badly, and occasionally a tree died. |
concluded that either the fertilizer was |
o rank with ammonia, or that the pillow
was too rough a surgical instrument for
root pruning, and decided to stock the
land with grass and trust to top-dressing
with compost to keep up the fertility.
This checked the growth of wood. and
diminished for a time the size and
quantity of fruit, but it restored
to the trees. Still, this
orchard does not look as well
to-day Is one afterwards started
and shocked down to grass the same
sear III which the trees were planted.
Both orchards are on similar soil. and
have been treated was kept under the
blow for the hrst ten or twelve years.
Both have been top-dressed literally.
md, with few exceptions. annually,
With a compost of muck. with a motley
of barnyard anure wood
lshes, refuse salt, lime, old plaster
mortar), bones digested in wood ashes.
he sweeplngs of a wooden factory, and
SIZING from a paper mill. never
a dead horse that was coca
offered. When this COMPOST
shOveled over, and the offence was
ank, smelling to heaven, | checked the
nell, and at the same time improved
he compost, by a free Sprinkiing Of
With the application of this fertilizer.
Omposed, as will readily be seen. quite
.rgely of saline materials, | have been
bic to cut W crops Of grass annually.
nd at the same time keep the trees in
God growing and bearing condition.
he bark of the trees is smooth. the /,
are of a dark green. the fruit +;
llr, and the trees every way healthy. :
attribute the results largely to the I
bundance of inorganic material IN the !
,mpost. with enough organic matter !
keep the surface Of the soil light and =,
orous Ii muck cannot be had con ,
eniently. then | should sub ,titute leaf !
Old from the forest. Indeed am r
TO believe, from my limited y
lperience with leaf mold. that if i '
stter than muck for the basis of the a
'mpost, as leaves, besides making the G
ii light, furnish the salts of lime and
'tash quite literally. cannot speak t
Q highly of wood ashes a. a fertilizer ),
r fruit trees, With the plv ical =