Judsonia weekly advance., 1916-03-08
,. FERTILIZERS AND HoRTICuL-
 TURF


 The fruit and vegetable growers are always leaders in the use of plant foods for their crops. This is espe- ciaIly true of the vegetable growers What they wish is rapid growth in their produce, so that they will get the vegetables on the market in the shortest possible time from the time of planting. This is the secret of success with vegetables, and the only way to meet such conditions is to ap- ply fertilizers in large quantities. In the next paper we shall tell about the home garden" and how to fertiIize it. In the present paper we are to tell more particularly about fruit trees and other horticultural plants.
 The relation of apple growing to fertilizers has never been very care fully worked out. We know that the use Of fertilizers with fruit trees, and especially apples, pays, but we have not yet worked out the best formulf for the various kinds of trees, nor the amounts which pay he-s. Brisbin says, in his book on Trees and Tree Planting" that in planting young trees large quantities of manure should be used in preparing the place for planting. These manures should he rich in plant food clements if the trees are expected to make rapid growth. The best way to increase the plant food in manures is to add to the manures the mineral elements in various forms, and mix with leaf mold and manures. Brisbin also rec ommends that weeds should not be al- lowed to grow around the apple trees, as they will take up the plant food which is put down for young trees.
 The best method of producing fruit is to keep the field or orchard clean by growing other crops which require constant attention and culti- vation. Most farmers and horticul- turists fertilize the crops that grow in the orchard, and in this way save the expense of fertilizing the fruit trees again. In many instances le- gumes are grown as cover crop. and, incidentally, to furnish nitrogen. The orchard cannot be cultivated too deeply, or injury will result If needs to be cultivated shallow, and manures or fertilizers applied in reasonable quantities. While it is necessary to put fertilizers near the trunk of the tree, yet the roots scatter pretty well over all orchard, and the plant food that happens to fall further away from the trunk is not lost
 A large crop of apples or peaches takes from the soil much plant food. such as nitrogen, potash and phos- phoric acid and unless this is SUD- piled from time to time. the trees will prove less fruitful and finally bear very little fruit, and what they do bear will be of poor quality. The ar gument that old trees in pastures bear good fruit is not sound. be- cause conditions prevail in many iso- lated places this way that cannot be duplicated in the orchard. Many times if is the natural leaf mold, woods eaxth. droppings from animals. and other materials carrying available plant food that make the fruit on such trees. Besides, such fruit is raTeiy ever as excellent and delicious as that grown in a Well-kept orchard Fruit. like all othv kaads of field and garden crops, must be forced more or less to measure up to diah stan dard To force the fruit, and at the same time keep the land fertile, we must apply to the soil as much fertiI- izer as the crop takes from jt.
 Fruit trees demand in their growth 1 a fertilizer rather rr!ch in potash and l phosphoric acid, but not very rich <a i nnitrogea. II was found that the citrus 1 tees in California at the Riverside l Experiment Station grew better fruit l and did better every way with com plete fertilizer than with any single 1 plant food element. or any incomplete 1 It was also found that the acid requirements Of these trees l were more completely supplied with sulphate of ammonia than from any other nitrogen source.
 Many of the experiment stations have secured good results from fertil- izing orchards, but none g-.~-,,c so good 1 as the Ohio station. r H. Ballou, n charge of work with aNples, says:
 "To sum Up the results in increased M'uit production from the Use of chemical fertilizers on the very thin orchard land in. southeastern Ohio. taking into consideration all our diff f.rent plo < at the various places GOV ering .o miles of country. we have the rgowine
 Average per acre, per year fertil- ,zed, 1A0 barrels
 Average per acre, per year unfertil- ized, 44 barrels.
 Gain per acre, per year. from fertil- ization, 56 barrels.
 Cost of gain per barrel, per year, IFS cents.
 This is the strongest endorsement for the use of commercial fertilizers m orchards that we have vet seen, and shows how it is possible to in- crease the incomes from an orchard by the wise use of the proper kinds