Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1916-05-28

IF you want to secure annual crops
sential that you fertilize them each
year." says Sheldon w. Funk. market
ing. gardening and fruit expert of the
Pennsylvania department of agricul-
ture. Mr.. Funk says:
Many people think that fruit trees
need no fertilizer and let them shift Tor
| themselves. which is the cause OF so
many starved trees in this state. l be-
lieve more trees die of starvation each
year than from any other single cause.
When manure of any kind is used as
feed it should be applied in the fall or
some time during the winter. but II you
are using commercial fertilizer 1t should
be applied about blossoming time. II
you have not yet fed your trees. this IS
a good time to do it; apply your Ter.
tilizer at once, before you forget ABOUT
1t.
Trees on different soils. Of course,
require different kinds and different
amounts of fertilizer. and we can make
no hard and fast rules. but by watching
your trees closely you can tell what
they need. Fertilize your bearing trees
so that you secure an average of from
s to IL inches of new growth each sea-
son. young trees should grow consider
ably more than that. Always use
good high grade fertilizer, which car
and from 10 to IL per cent Of phos-
phoric acid.
Some varieties of trees require more
fertilizer than others, but a safe rule
is to apply about pound of fertilizer
to each tree for each year in age. for
instance, a nty-year- old tree should
have about twenty pounds II you are
cultivating the orchard apply 1t just
before a cultivation. while If the or
| chard Is in sod. apply 1t on top OF the
Where the trees are large apply the
fertilizer over all the ground. except
ing a space Of from four to six feet
around the trunk of the tree. At this
point we flnd nearly all brace roots
and fertilizer does very little good
there. On a younger tree apply the
fertilizer we'll out beyond the spread of
the branches SO that 1t comes in con-
tact with the feeding roots. The fer
tilization of the orchard costs SO little
and the results are so remarkable that
you simply can't afford to neglect it,"
BY furnishing better means of COM
munication, good roads will add to the
selling price of farm products and in
every way will contribute to the COM
fort and happiness of the people. Then.
furthermore, we can have a good syS-
tenn of consolidated schools only where
we nave ROOQ ROADS
A teaspoonful of nitrate of soda ap-
piled around cabbage, caulifower, to-
mato or lettuce soon after the plants
are set Is universally regarded as a
good practice, unless the soil is well
provided with nitrogen.
Patience and persistence are neces-
sary to combat peach tree borers They
should be extracted with the aid of a
strong, sharp knife and pliable wire.
Trees should be examined for these
pests twice year. preferably in Octo-
Der and May After the latter exami-
nation a protective covering should be
applied to reduce. SO far as possible.
the entrance Of new borers. For this
purpose lime-sulphur solution is as safe
and effective a material as any. 1t
should be applied either with coarse
spray nozzle or with brush and the
trunk of the tree should be thoroughly
covered from the exposed crown to a
height of fifteen inches or more. A lit
tie lime-su1phur sediment or some ex-
ira lime may be added. Eight or ten
pounds of either material Is enough for
fifty gallons of solution. Arsenicals
are not recommended for this purpose,
as some of them have proved injurious
to trees and useless against the borer.
When the coating is dry soil should be
replaced around the trees and mounded
up to a height of about six inches, SO
that borers gaining entrance in spite of
the coating may be detected readily.
The first eggs are laid by the adult
moths about the middle of June. The