Idaho County free press. [volume] (Grangeville, Idaho Territory) 1886-current, 1914-06-18

enced men who
realize the shortcomings Of ordinary
farming.
FOR instance. while l urge the advis-
ability OF growing fruit in localities
which have the adva ntage Of good
markets. l should dislike to see farm
ers in the central states or anywhere
else devote themselves to this single
industry. That would be about as fool
Ism as exclusive grain raising or dairy.
ing The orchard belongs in scheme
OF mixed farming. together with poul-
try and hogs.
Important facts for fruit growers
are that orchard land may be made to
pay double and the fertility Of the soil
maintained without extraordinary eff
fort. While the trees are coming to
maturity land earns nothing for five or
six years unless there is plan Of veg
etable raising. when return of 500
an acre is easily secured and the soil
is benefited by the necessary cultiva-.
ton. Unless such system Of cropping
is established nonbehring orchard is
apt to be neglected and this results in
waste Of time, investm ent and land.
The cultivation Of vegetables or small
fruit In an orchard Is therefore for the
purpose of securing immediate profits
and keeping up the quality Of the soil.
1t goes further than this, however, for
it makes the land return a living in
come even in unfavorable fruit sea-
sons. when late frosts, insect pests or
other destructive agencies have spoiled
the apples, pears, plums and cherries.
Apple and cherry trees should be
planted thirty feet apart; plum. pear
and peach trees twenty to twenty-five
feet apart. The trees need to stand
in straight rows to permit the free use
Of horse cultivator in the vegetable
and berry patches. One of the most
common mistakes in farming is to
plant trees too near together.
Nitrogen. phosphorus and potassium
are necessary for the fertilization Of
fruit trees and plants in general. Nj
trogen can be obtained in stable ma
nure. but the principal source is air.
and we may obtain it by growing
legumes. Vegetable gardening carried
on with the aid Of barnyard manure
is an excellent treatment for orchard
land Phosphorus may be obtained by
the use Of raw rock phosphate or bone
meal. Potassium Is contained in large
amounts in our ordinary soils in a
more or less unavailable state To get
more potassium in such a shape that
the plants can use it we can either
lv,h
lock that which is already present in
abundance. Experiments have shown
that it does not pay to apply potas-
SUM to ordinary soils, provided decay
ing organic matter in the form of ma
nure or cover crops is worked into the
soil. The decaying organic matter will
liberate the potassium.
1t may not be generally known that
apples are about as hard on land as
wheat or corn. except they do not take
from it as much phosphorus. A 425
bushel apple crop will remove from the
soil about the same amount of nitro
gen and potassium a md half as much
phosphorus as fifty bushels Of corn or
twenty five bushels Of wheat. There
fore thorough system Of gardening
not only makes the orchard land do
double duty, but restores the soil fer
tility.
If for any reason gardening cannot
be carried on in q thorough way in an
orchard l should recommend legumes
in place of manure as the source OF
heterogeneous organic matter. It is
shown that cheap way to grow
legumes is to apply ground limestone
and rock phosphate. The cost of this
treatment would not exceed 50 per acre
per year, which should not seriously
interfere with this system of fertilixa-
ton.