The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1914-11-05

enced men who
realize the shortcomings of ordinary
farming
For instance. while | urge the ilvis-
ability of growing fruit in localities
which have the advantage of good
markets. | should dislike TO see farm
ers i'll the central states or anywhere
else devote themselves to this single
industry. That woJld be about as fool
ish as exclusive grain raising or dairy
ing. The orchard belongs in Il 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 Il return of S1C0
an acre is easily secured and the soil
is benefited by the necessary cultiva-
lion. Unless such a system of cr0Vpin"
is established nonbearing orchard is
apt 10 be neglected. and this results in
waste of time. investment and land.
The cultivation of vegetables or SuaIl
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 i'll unfavOrabe 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
i'll straight rows to permit the free use
of horse cultivator i'll the vegetable
and berry patches. One of the MIST
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 i'll larg,
amounts in our ordinary soils in Il
more or less unavailable state. To get
more potassium in such Il shape that
the plants can use it we can either
apply soluble potassium salts or uu-
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.
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. 40
bushel apple crop will remove from the
soil about the same amount of nitro
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.
If for any reason gardening cannot
be carried on in thorough way in an
orchard | should recommend legumes
in place of manure as the source Of
heterogeneous organic matter. 1t is;
shown that Il cheap way to grow
legumes is to apply ground limestone
and rock phosphate. The cost of tbs
treatment would not exceed 50 per aci e
per year, which should not seriously
interfere with this system of fertiliZa
ton.