Kansas City daily journal. [volume] (Kansas City, Mo.) 1892-1897, 1896-06-21

| most.
Tho draft OF the trees upon IN. elements
Of the soil while making growth is. iish,
IN comparison to the exhaustive stage OF
nSarins frnit A crop Of apples. dsrlclcs
tne sou OF the essential elements OF fertility
the same as growing any other farm crop.
relatively. There are very fcw farmers IN
The older sections OF the cotntry who ever
and wheat upon the land year after year
without, the application Of some fcrtili,ing
material; dld they adopt the practice they
~ diminished re,urns,. Yet tsls has been
mo course pursued with the apple orchards
by the majority OF farmers.
Two acres OF orchardlnr, set with 100
trees N good bearing condition. will pro-
ducc 20 barrels OF apples. That amount
but the SOLID matter In this crop q. ~
barrels OF apples has drawn from tho soil.
mainly. forty-nve pound. Of nitrogen, near
ly four pounds OF phosphoric acid and sew
cnty .hvc pounds OF potash. exclusive OF tho
considerable drain upon the soil for. tho
growth az new wood In tho trees. These
figures show two things: The urgent ncccs-
sity Of fecding the orchard. and the form Of
Fertilizers best suited 10 restore the vast
ed elements.
Potash Is tho leading element required in
fruit growing. nitrogen forms the next I'm
pottant element; phosphorus plays an un-
important part in the production OF the np-
pie and most OF our granite soils ruitablo
for orcharding need no special application
OF that element oftcner than once in four
or hvo years. of small quantity.
This brings TO our consideration the mos.
eHcctiN" and economical materials 10 apply
to the soil OF the orchard. The above ilg-
ures show us that II We use barn dressing
as the main dependence FOR fcrtilir1ng ma
tcrial. the practice Is costly and wasictul,
a ton of stable manure on n fair AVERAGE
contains ten pounds Of nitrogen, hyo
pounds OF phosphorus acid and ten pounds
OF potash. Now to dress the two acres OF
orchard with stable manure requisite TO
supply tho sevcnty-nve pounds OF potash
drawn from the soil in the crop OF -, bar
rels Of apples would take seven and one
half tons. mud that would give an excess
OF over thirty pounds OF rhosphorir acid
and nearly twenty-five pounds of nitrogen;
the latter worse than a dead loss. Tor an
excess OF nitrogen induces rrofuso growth
OF the wood at the expense OF fruit.
a combination OF stable manure and
eSmneG sos. y Mdi Gse for The he, essr amson ET;
of stable manure supplemented by ioo or
5' pounds of kainit. or 100 to. 10 pounds OF
either muriato or sulphntc of potash. with
nifty pounds of nitrate OF soda, gives good
results.
Soils vary so much in their composition
that no definite rules can he laid down mp.
plicablc to all locations. In a case of SOL OF
somewhat light and dry nature, acid bono
with. II per cent potash in the form OF
kainit gave good results. preceded by a
dressing OF stable manure. rlowcd in tho
year before. the chemicals applied and mar
rowed In. The trees were old and had been
neglected by n former owner. The effect
in growth was Immediate, and subsequent
~. after the trees had reeuperated, they
commenced to bear annual crops. Nltrr
i've years had elapsed the Improvement In
fruit IL very marked. This Is SO In sizo
and quality OF the fruit.
Spraying with fnngicides and for the sup
preston OF various species OF insects that
prey upon both trees and fruit Is n neg.s-
sity to tho production of the best fruit. Tho
bordeaux mixture is an antidote for fun-
81. and the addition TO It.. at the proper
time. of Paris green, will destroy the va
rious leaf eating insects and the codiinE
worms.
Many OF our best orcharaists now prac-
tlce thinning the green fruit on heavily
bearing trees. This IL done soon after the
natural falling OFF of the poorly developed
and dtyarfed fruit, From a third to one
half the fruit is picked from the trees,
The remainder develops. to larger, thirer
fruit and is worth more than the whole left
to mature.