The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1905-06-08
Agricultural Department
CONDUCTED BY FULTON s. WHITE

college may tell the farmer that his trees
need spraying. That Is an easy prescrip-
ton for poor orchards.
For several years past the writer has
been seeing what seemed at distance
to be very fine apple orchard and re-
Gently while visiting a friend who lived
near this orchard remarked, What a
fine orchard that appears to be- My
friend said THAT orchard looks very
well at distance but 1t has never paid.
The trees are now twenty years old, eb-
ginning to decay and have never had a
crop OF paying fruit on them and have
never paid the cost of planting and in
terest on the cost of the trees"
SO we went over to investigate and
found that the subsoil was full of water.
there had been no provision for drainage.
but the land was set to grass and the
grass has taken up vfst amount or
water thus preventing the trees from
being drowned out. The trees were starv-
ed for plant food, the grass having taken
this up with the water. The trees were
also top heavy; they had never been
pruned and were full of water sprouts,
which indicated a deeaylng condition.
When we came to examine the conditions
we were not at all surprised that this
orchard had never had any good fruit.
How many such orchards are to be found
all over the country? Had the land for
this orchard been properly drained fer
tilted, cultivated and pruned the trees
would have borne fine fruit.
Another Example.
Another quite similar case came under
my observation recently gentleman
living in the city of st. Louis some years
ago planted a large commercial orchard
on soil that was we'll worn from pro-
/ ducing grain crops He gave the soil no
preparation or fertilizers. He crowded
the land and planted his trees too thick.
He stated to me that he got few crops
of nice apples when his trees commenced
to bear. but for some seasons past the
fruit was small knotty. scrubby, unmer-
charitable and very light. He said that
the trees had all grown up into each
other He called upon a college professor
for Information, who told him to spray
the trees.
Now the question is. what is the trou-
BILE with this orchard? 1t is very plain
to see that in the first place there were
too many trees on the land; there is no
plant food to feed them on or make
fruit 1t requires all the moisture and
plant food that there is In the soil to
keep the trees alive and make wood.
Now if half the trees In that orchard
erly cared for and pruned. and the soil
properly fertilized and cultivated these
trees would bear fine fruit. Now we do
not wish to convey the idea that we OPP
pose spraying. but this promiscuous adj
vice on spraying Is like that OF the un-
learned doctors of sixty or seventy years
ago: when they did not understand a
case they would bleed the patient. Spray
! ing is all very well for some things. hut
1t will not answer for plant food or for
| cultivation and pruning. Such orchards
as here mentioned constitute another rea-
| son why we do not see as man large
! red apples as we should in the Ozark
region.
Fertilizers.
Fertilizers are plant foods just as much
so as meat, bread and dairy products are
foods for man. A man cannot live and
! labor without food neither can an apple
tree. 1t takes a certain amount of the
food that a man eats to produce energy;
| just SO with the apple tree
With the proper kind of food for pro-
! ducing energy the energy in the man
will last longer and enable him to per-
form more and better labor. So 1t Is
with the apple tree. This plant food
should be largely supplied to the soil be
fore the trees are planted. There are
many soils that will require several years
= OF crop fOl1IlOn ana ltfilli1dtioh ptiVi
they are ready to set to apple trees Many
soils are deficient in humus. decayed
i vegetable matter, and this organic matter
| must be restored to the soil before it will
, produce fine apples Soils that have been
/ robbed of this element of plant food
should first be sowed to COW peas OF
/ some of the clovers Qegumes), and These
| plowed under. At the same time use all
! the available barnyard manures The
three leading elements in fertilizers are
i nitrogen, phosphoric acid and potash
Stable manure contains all these, and II
enough of this stable manure could be
had and used in connection with the le-
: gumes impoverished soils could soon be
! restored to a high state of fertility.
: BY all means the soil should be fully
reclaimed, fertilized and pus in a fine
4 mechanical condition before planting
I trees or any other crops for that matter
After this, when the trees begin to beai
they should have each year an applica
ton of from 600 to 1000 pounds per acre OF
fertilizers containing per cent nitrogen
per cent potash and I per cent avail
able phosphoric acid. And every three
Years there should be an application Of
Stacked lime at the rate OF one ton pei
acre. The lining of orchard soils Is Vert
essential. Now little reason in this
matter where one is engaged In CONNER
cial apple growing Is 1t not the bes
fruits that will bring best prices that are
desired? Does not the grower want
class of fruit that will put him on al
equal footing with his strongest competi
tor? There are things to think apou
and it is only by such methods as al
vised here that fine mercantile apples
can be grown. Then again u Is no. ON,
necessary to build the soil up pelor'
i planting the trees but it must be fee
regularly afterward, for the growing tree