Thomas County cat. [volume] (Colby, Kan.) 1885-1891, 1885-04-02
APPLE ANp PEACH ORCHARDS.

|
Interesting Information Which May b
! OF Value to Other Localities.
Four years ago we had a very cold
winter in this region, which was fol
lowed by an exceedingly hot and dry
summer, during the latter part of which
a majority of the apple-trees either died
outright, or became so feeble that they
bore but little fruit and soon afterward
died completely.
| The few peach-trecs that were grow
ing in the country Jared even worse
than the apple-trees, and now but few
full-grown trees of either kind can be
seen anywhere through Central Ohio
and Indiana, although this region but a
few years ago was remarkable for the
abundance of its apples and peaches.
In inquiring for the causes which have
led 10 this great destruction of fruit
trees, even intelligent fruit-grOwers will
claim that the very cold winter froze
the sap in the trees. causing their death.
| Let us examine this accepted theory
ard see upon what foundation it rests.
| While the winter named was a very
cold one, yet the thermometer had
reached lower points in some seasons
before, without producing any marked
effect upon fruit-tre and in Northern
| Ohio and Indiana-even in Michigan,
where the thermometer reached lower
points during that season-no fruit
trees were killed. The hasty conclu-
! SONS drawn then does not seem to be
sustained by the facts. and to get at the
true causes we will have to give the
sub ect more thorough investigation.
In watching the progress of epidemic
| diseases in the human family we find
! that the incorporate, the poorly fed
and clothed-in fact. all with depraved
organizations and lowered vitality are
the ones who fall victims to such dis
eases. Now, as fruit trees live, grow
and flourish from the nutrient mates jail
they receive from the soil in which tley
are imbedded. and the care and atten-
ton given to their cultivation, we think
! careful study of the treatment given
the trees in the affected districts will
better explain the causes of their pre-
mature destruction.
The usual practice with the great ma
jority of fruit-growers in this region is
to plant out their fruit trees without
any special preparation of the soil and
to continue to raise crops of corn and
small grain upon the same land, until
the trees. by the shade they make, pre-
vent the growth of any crop except
grass; after which the blue grass sod
fakes and holds possession of the land,
and as fast as it grows is fed of by
R,,f 10 f,.,,;t ha far
has planted need all the nItriment ma
terial contained in the soil, for when
the trees come into bearing and the
fruit is taken of the land. the soil is
rapidly exhausted OF the constituent
elements that make up the fruit, which
elements must be replaced or the vital
ity of the trees will be lowered and are
then easily killed.
The wood Of the apple and peach is
rich in potash, lime and compounds of
phosphorus, and the fruit richer in the
latter than the wood. and n few crops
of fruit, if carried off the land, will
soon exhaust it Of the phosphorus.
especially after the trees are full
grown. when the little ro0t1cts have
occupied almost the entire soil.
tniS eNllatSiicH Il
cc,erated if crops Of grain are also
raised upon the same land and then
taken OF Of it. Fifteen or twenty
years of such treatment will exhaust
any of the uplands of this region OF
the cohstitt;enti clements. shat enter
into the formation of orchard trees
and fruits. When their vitality is thus
lowered, any unusual strain upon them,
such as a very cold winter CT hot, dry
summer, will bring about their destruc-
tioI: while. if they had been well nOur-
ished and kept i'll u healthy condition,
they would have passed stich seasons I'M
scathed. The majority of farmers in
this region are treating their fruit trees
as they do their children. TEey work
the mental powers of their children to
the greatest possible extent, and at the
same time fail to give the brain such
nutrition rs will enable it to carry on
the work imposed upon it. II the chill
dren break down under such treatment
it is called the d;5pensat'On of Provi-
dance: if the fruit trees die under the
treatment they receive, it is at once de-
cided that fruit trees can no longer be
IA sed III this climate.
Now, there can be no question but
that apple and peach orchards will do
As well in this region as they ever did if
the fruit grower will put back upon the
soil the amount of the essential elements
that enter into the growth of the trees
and fruits and of which his constant
cropping has deprived it, also giving |
them the necessary culture and careful
Let the farmer give his orchard-land
a thorough top dressing of lime every
second or third year. also all the ashes he
can raise, and on alternate years dress
ing of phosphates in some form as ground
bone, super-phosphate, etc. Then the top
soil should be cultured sufficiently to
keep tough sod from forming on it,
out no grain crop should be raised upon
the same land. The frequent sowin:
IF clover. rye and buckwheat for the
purpose of turning under will help
20 enrich the soil, but such cultivation
greatly assists the development OF tie
iarva, or insect pests which prove 81
destructive to the fruits of this region.
1t is therefore best to keep the surface
As Clean as possible by frequent. shallow
and rely upon the top dress
ing above named to keep up the fertility