| OCR Text |
Show o ''oLD ORCHARDS NEED FERTILIZERS. FER-TILIZERS. , Editor The Apple Specialist: I, In the case of orchards of some age or on thin land wc regard the application ap-plication of fertilizers as very import-, import-, ant. Whoever saw p. fat calf troubled with vermin? It is the poor, thin. scrawny animal that suffers. Likc- wllsc it is our belief that orchard trees ? Jhat arc properly nourished and in full vigor cm endure fungus diseases bet-r bet-r tcr than those trees which arte in an .impoverished condition on exhausted (t1 land. With this thought in mind we , arc tit this time hauling 80,000 pounds of stable litter weekly from three and 1 a half to four miles to our orchards. Wc arc applying 400 pounds of stable litter to each tree. If the litter is very coarse wc apply under the branches along the rows out of the way of cultivation one way. If the manure is fine and can -"be worked in the giound with a disc, then wc prefer pre-fer to scatter over the entire area. An experimient conducted along this line some years ago in these same orchards indicates that stable litter applfcd to bearing orchards' was worth $1.00 .per loid the first year and its bcmeficial affects were apparent appar-ent for a number of years. In one 'orchard and on one variety where wj made very heavy applications of stable litter, under bearing trees, we secured an annual y:cld three years in succesion at the rate of 1500 bushels bush-els of apples per acre. This return was secured in one of our closely planted orchards where the apple trees stood 12x20 feet, giving icach tree 250 feet of spnee or at the rate of 174 trees per acre. This excessive production, however, seemed to weaken weak-en the trees and they have not proved to be as long lived as the same vat- icty planted where they had more room and less exhaustive over-bearing. Wc arc also hauling three hundred loads of straw into cur orchards. Wc use this as a "mulch eight feet in width on the row under the branches. Wc will continue to cultivate the middle of the rows. On side hilta liable to wash when under cultivation, cover the entire area, and thus shut off the tendency so loss of surface soil. E. F. STEPHENS. - |
