The Washburn leader. [volume] (Washburn, McLean County, N.D.) 1890-1986, 1914-03-27

farming.
For instance. while / urge the advis.
ability Of growing fruit in localities
which have the advantage of good
markets. | 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
ish as exclusive grain raising o dairy.
ing. The orchard belongs in a scheme
Of mixed farming. together with poul-
try and hogs.
Important fucts for fruit growers
are that orchard land may be made to
| pay double and the fertility Of the soil
maintained without extraordinary ef-
fort. While the trees are coming to
maturity land earns nothing for five or
six years unless there is Il plan Of veg
etable raising. when a return of 500
an acre is easily secured and the soil
is benefited by the necessary cultiva-
is established a nonbearing orchard is
apt to be neglected. and this results in
waste of time, Investment 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 u%nfavorable 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 a horse c~ultivator In the vegetable
and berry patches. One Of the most
common mistakes In farming is to
plant trees toe 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
nurc. but the principal source is air.
and We may obtain 1t 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 8 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 q shape that
the plants can use it we a either
apply soluble potassium salts or IN
lock that which is already present in
abundance. Experiments have shown
that it does not pay to apply potas-
stun 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. 4.
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 and half as much
phosphorus as fifty bushels of corn or
twenty-five bushels Of wheat There
fore a thorough system of gardening
not only makes the orchard land do
double duty, but restores the soil fer
tility.
II for any reason gardening cannot
be carried on in q thorough way in an
orchard I should recommend legumes
in place Of manure rs the source OF
heterogeneous organic matter. It is
shown that a cheap way to grow
Iegumes is to apply ground limestone
and rock phosphate. The cost OF this
would not exceed 81 per acre
wear, which should not seriously
interfere with this system of fertiliza.
ton.