White Bluffs spokesman. [volume] (White Bluffs, Wash.) 1907-1938, 1925-12-11
INCREASE TONNAGE BY
COMMERCIAL Fertilizer

Noting the Increased tonnage that
has been secured in the Wenatchee
valley and other fruit districts, CT
Whaley, owner of Ballygreen Farm
has been conducting quiet investiga.
ton for some little time through soil
tests and consultation with soil ex-
perts and believes that the fruit ton
mage per acre in this valley can be
materially increased through the ap-
plication of certain commercial ferti-
lizer. This fertilizer is made at Ana
conda, Montana, and can be shipped
here in car lots, Mr.. Whaley says,
at very reasonable cost. So con-
WINGED is he of it's merits that he has
determined to give it a trial and
would like to interest other fruit
growers so that the fertilizer can be
shipped in in carloads.
Discussing this matter with the
Spokesman last week Mr.. Whaley
said:
From our experience covering a
productive period of some eight years,
we are convinced that the orchards in
the Priest Rapids valley should pro-
duce larger crops of fruit than they
have been yielding. 1t is well known
by soil experts that certain soils may
contain high percentage of plant
foods and at the same time be poor
farming ground, for the reason that
the plant food in these soils is not
available or is not released, so to
speak, or the process of releasing is
too slow and improbable. In this
valley, from all the information we
have been able to gather, it seems the
thing to use is a good grade of So
called commercial fertilizer. This
fertilizer is better if the planter or
grower mixes it himself. BY this
method, he is not paying freight on a
large percentage of useless filler ma
tcrials. We at Ballyereen Farm have
had samples of the different soils in
the vicinity thoroughly examined and
the final analysis is that the soils are
practically the same except that they
vary somewhat in texture, some be-
ing heavier on the surface and sand
at the depth and others being coars-
er or sander soil on the surface and
the heavier soil underneath, while the
elements of plant food in both are
virtually the same.
Professor McDole, who is the soil
technologist at the University of Ida
lo, where he has been for the past
five years, has accomplished wonders
for the farmers of that State by i'm
proving the soil conditions on the diff
ferent farm lands. He makes no pre-
tensions as horticulturist but he is
an eminent soil technologist. He
was brought to the University of Ida
no from the University of Minnesota
at very handsome salary. He states
that the soil in s1is district contains
large amount of phosphates and
potash but that all raw soil - and
some Of the lands planted to fruit, are
very deficient in nitrogen. Where
some of the orchards have sufficient
nitrogen obtained by the planting of
alfalfa and other legumes, the other
fertilizing elements are not available.
Professor McDole advises further the
use of quick fertilizer and he recon-
mends the following, known as 4-8-4:
or mixture of 800 pounds sulphate
of ammonia, 347.5 pounds triple phos-
pilates and 100 pounds of potash. He
and many other authorities say that
it is not possible to get too much
phosphoric in the SOIL. while it might
be possible to get too much sulphate
of ammonia, or too great an amount
OF potash.
1T seem to me that our district in
the Columbia valley is not getting
the production that it should and it
seems that the only quick and direct
way to get these results is to use
good quality of so-called commercial
fertilizer and at the proper season.
Professor McDole advises 100 pounds
to $50 pounds of the above mixture
per acre for orchard land, but states
that it might require as much as $50
pounds, or even as much as 1000
pounds, per acre for. intensive crops"