The herald., 1896-12-26
(Address all communications Of an agrI-
cultural nature to the Agricultural Editor.)
tEdited by S. M. Woodbridge. Phi. d.

FERTILIZERS-W WHEN, HOW
Read before the Pomona Farmers and
Horticulturists' club December IA, 1896,
by Frank l.. Palmer. 1t is due to Mr..
Palmer to say that he preferred to with
hold his paper from publication until af-
ter the completion of experiments he is
now making; but the club by unanimous
vote requested, owing to it's valuable
suggestions as well as recitals of expert
ences, that it be given to the public now:
At the last meeting of the Claremont
club gave very informal talk on the
subject of fertilization, and have been
asked to repeat the substance of it here.
This talk consisted principally of an ac-
count of some experiments that L have
been making in the Richards orange
grove, with different fertilizers and fer
tiljzing elements and [ am very willing
to give you the results of these expert
ments if may thereby induce you to go
on with other experiments that need to
be made before we can be entirely sure
of the correctness of our conclusions. 1t
is by an interchange of ideas and expe-
riences that we cen get the most beneht
from these farmers cubs, and l have
many times noticed that the discussion
that follows the reading of paper is, as
a rule. of more value than the paper 1t
self.
This subject of fertilization is sur
rounded by good many complications.
but I believe 1t is highly necessary t"
our success as fruit growers that we
master it, and that the successful fruit
grower of the future who is able to com
pete with increasing production VIII De
that man who practices fertilization IN
thoroughly intelligent manner. Let us
take courage; it is really not so compli-
Gated subject as the currency question,
and If we have not already mastered
that, we at least know lots of fellows
who have.
In view of the excessive dropping of
the newly set oranges which again oc-
cured this spring, I am sure that any
information we can obtain as to prac-
tical method for lessening the evil will
be interesting. 1 have been very much
interested in the subject and am strong
ly Of the opinion that the dropping OF the
fruit may be controlled to a certain rea-
sonable extent by the use of proper
fertilizer. Several years ago / wrote TO
Mr.. Lelong, secretary of the state board
of horticulture, asking him if the subject
had ever been investigated by the state
board, and If he could supply me with
any literature relating to it. He replied
that he could not, but referred me to y
prominent orange grower, who, he SAID,
had made some investigation Of the sub
ject and who might be considered an au-
thority. Upon writing to him received
a courteous reply, saying quite briefly
that he thought nitric acid was the miss
ing quality in the soil in the spring, and
that his seedlings stuck we'll when
heavily fertilized.
Some time afterward I had the pleas
ure of meeting his son, a very intelligent
gentleman, who has given the subject OF
fertilization a good deal of study. He
very kindly went into the matter at
T hot nn
dropping of the orange could be largely
overcome by supplying the tree with nj
trogen prior to the time of blossoming.
He said the tree would not blossom so
freely lin which I agree with him). but
he claimed that what fruit was formed
would stick. He went on to tell me that
nitrates are only formed naturally in
the soil after the soil has attained GER
tain degree of warmth, and, consequent
!, when we have cold spring, the tenn
perature of the soil not being high
enough, these nitrates are not formed;
consequently we must apply them to the
soil artificially. He referred me to some
authority on the subject, think it was
johnson on How Crops Feed, and I
found that this authority supported his
idea as to nitrates only being formed un-
der a certain temperature of the soil.
1 was therefore very ready to accept
this theory as fact. think, now, how
ever, that. while his premises were cor
rect, his deductions are misleading and
require modification. To say the least,
my experiments do not bear out the the
ory. I have made several tests of it and
propose to make some more in a differ
emit way, BY the application of nitrate
of soda to orange trees growing on a
very light, gravelly soil, I succeeded in
starting fine new growth. on which APP
peared reasonable quantity of bloom;
but the fruit that was formed did not
stick; on the contrary, nearly every bit
of 1t dropped. This was the case in two
different localities where 1 selected a
very poor soil, and it leads me to believe
that nitrogen alone will not produce the
desired effect; and, further, that 1t is
very doubtful if itisthe element in plant
food that we must look to in expectation
of such an effect.
On our best soil, on a plot where ap-
Piled nitrate of soda alone the fruit did
stick; that Is, those trees held their crop
much better than some adjacent trees
which got no fertilizer at all. What was
the reason OF the trees on good soil hold
ing their fruit better than unfertilized
trees, and trees on poor soil not doing
so when similarly treated? Is it not
reasonable to suppose that in the case
of the good soil the nitrogen united with
some ingredient already possessed by
Let us go step farther. Where made
a similar test with potash alone got as
good results as where / used nitrogen
alone on good soil; and where / used
nitrogen and potash together and moth
ing else I got better results in quantity
Of fruit than by the use of either element
singly. MY Inference, then, Is that if
there be any one ingredient of plant food
that will tend to make the tree hold its
fruit that ingredient is potash instead
Of nitrogen. 1t seems plausible that in
the case of the good soil, containing a
considerable quantity of plant food;
there was potash present in the soil
with which the nitrogen combined to
produce the good effect noticed; while in
the case Of the poor soil the nitrogen
failed because potash was not present
with which it might combine. 1 regret
to say that I have not as yet made the
test of potash alone on washed grav-
eIly soil. This is one of many such expert
ments that remain to be tried, and which
/ hope some of you may be induced to
take up. should expect as result of
this experiment that what little fruit
was formed would stick, but that under
these conditions very little fruit would
be formed, perhaps almost none; for, do
not misunderstood me, do not suppose
for @ moment that potash alone would
produce fruit; nitrogen and phosphor-
&c acid are probably the elements that
fill this office. do think, however, that
by the use of fertilizer containing the
proper amount of potash we may over
come to some extent the tendency Of the
orange tree to drop its fruit. am really
sorry on some accounts that have been