The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1903-03-06

most Of the rest is water. -.
In q ton of cherries there are 9l
pounds nitrogen, IL pounds of phos
phoric acid, 4.pounds potash.
A crop Of any one of these varieties o
fruit does not carry Off very much plan
food. Now, when we must appl,
plant food, we apply nitrogen, phos
phoric acid, and potash. One of th,
main sources of nitrogen at the presen
time is the commercial product calleC
nitrate of soda, imported mostly from
South America. This contains abou
l6 per cent of nitrogen, and retail
somewhere between $60and$70per ton IL
the west. Another source of nitrogen
is sulphate of ammonia. This is q by
product from the manufacture of Goa
gas, In the Southern states cotton seeC
meal is used, that which is left aftel
pressing out the oil. Dried blood con
tains 10 or II per cent of nitrogen anC
fish blood or s per cent. Then, arounC
slaughter houses they have tank
age, which is u source of nitrogen
containing about 10 or ~ per cent
The main commercial fertilizer which
is used as a source Of nitrogen is nitrate
of soda. In the United States some
thing over 100000 tons are used annu
ally; it retails in the East at from
$4,000 to $4,000 per ton, in the Wesi
from $4,000 to 5000 per ton.
Another element which becomes
deficient in the soil is phosphoric acid
We can get that from number ot
sources; for instance, one source il
ground bone, 20 to 30 per cent; also
a great industry, called rock phos.
pilates. These rock are mined, and
contain from 10 to 80 per cent of phos
phoric acid. All Of this is not avail.
able; they treat il in sulphuric acid and
make dissolved rock. This rock con-
tains about l6 per cent phosphoric acid.
That is the main source Of phosphOril
acid. In the West we get it as Thomas
Stag Some also comes from Germany
containing Is to 20 per cent. OF this
there is 7 or 8 per cent available; the
rest will gradually become available iD
time. Wood ashes contain certain
amount, about TO 3 per cent
Potash is another thing which can
be applied to soil at times when it be.
comes deficient. Most of the potash
now comes from Germany. The mines
are located at a place called Stassfurt
and it is mined there in large guam
titles. 1t Is in form called muriate OF
potash. Practically all Of the muriate
of potash in the whole world comes
from that place in Germany. Most OF
the sulphate of potash comes from the
same region. Both muriate and sui
phate contain about 80 to 55 per cent
of actual potash.
Kainit is mined in Germany. 1t con-
tains more or less potassium sulphate
and common salt; it contains 10 to Is
per cent actual potash. Wood ashes
contain 4 to per cent of potash, some
times little more. Some have said that
ashes from fir wood is not good. We
have made several analyses and find
that fir wood ashes contain a large
amount of potash, 10 to IL per cent.
Fir wood ashes is lighter and will. l.not
weigh more than half as much as the
same bulk of ashes from scrub oak, but
q pound of fir wood ashes contains as
much as pound of ashes from scrub
oak or ash wood.
If we have an orchard which seems
to be unthrifty, and the foliage is rath-
er yellow and the trees stunted and do
not make much wood growth, the
probability is that the soil lacks nitro
gen. If you have an abundance of nj.
trogen in the soil you get a large wood
growth, the leaves large, and the ten
dency is for the fruit not to be Of good
quality. If you stimulate the tree too
much with heterogeneous fertilizer, you
get big wood growth at the expense
of the quality of the fruit, and the color
is not so good. In applying fertilizers
to an apple orchard, we might advise
putting on say from 90 to 100 pounds of
nitrate of soda per acre; from | to 2
pounds of nitrate of soda per tree. OF
acid, put on 200 to 400
pounds, 3 to 6 pounds per tree. Potash
100 to 200 pounds, each tree to 4
In using this plan, however,
do not put the fertilizer at the base OF
the tree; the feeding rootlets are away
from the tree distance of 10 or IL feet
from the base.
Phosphoric acid and potash COM
pounds may be applied any time in the
spring or late in the winter; super-phos-
phate can be put on at any time. APP
ply nitrogen, or nitrate of soda, Just
about the time the growing season
starts; if applied in the fall, being very
soluble, it will leach out of the soil.
Phosphoric and potash fertilizers do
not leach out of the soil unless the soil
is almost pure sand, then almost any
kind of fertilizer will tend TO leach out
oft. Sometimes it Is better to apply
the nitrogen in some ether form. For
instance, if you eau get it, to small
extent stable manure will furnish nj
trogen in small quantities and
also furnish organic matter and hn-
mus for the soil. In a region where we
can grow any of the clovers, or vetch,
they will take the atmospheric nitro
gen aud fix it in the soil so that the
tree can get the nitrogen, and that Is
the cheapest way To get nitrogen into
the soil. In the orchards | would adj
wise using some cover crop, possibly a
little fall rye or vetch, possibly little
ClVNti3 anu luih hlhNA NiiN htAh SBiAie5
This will add a little nitrogen to the
soil; that is the cheapest way.
As a general thing, | would advise a
farmer to put on his fertilizer broad
cast and not apply it around each indi-
viduaI tree, for this reason: The ten
dency is to put it too near the tree,
and to put too much there. If it is
put on broadcast there is not enough
one tree to cause injury. A
large tree would not suffer so much in
Jury from this cause as u small tree.
When fertilizer is sown broadcast there
is no danger to small trees; in a general
way, it is advisable to put fertilizer on
Potash and phosphoric acid
can be applied broadcast any tune. For
apples, apply nitrate of soda so to 100
pounds per acre; phosphates, 200 to 400
pounds; muriate, 100 to 200 pounds.
On making an application of fertilizer
you may or may not get good results.
The older the orchard the longer il
takes to affect the trees. On a young
orchard there will be results the first
season; on an orchard 25 years old you
may not see any effect the first year,
and may not the second year; probably
the third year you will begin to see the
effect. If the soil is not very rich in
plant food, possibly it would be well to
but on some fertilizer each year Wood
A. T. III al n. 80