Show FERTILITY IN THE ORCHARDS ORCHARD scarcely any soil boll can furnish all materials required without som outside assistance by 1 P STE WAnT thoro there ie Is an important nood need for fertility in jn any orchard that ie Is actively producing and growing tho the actual extent of taij 1 need can be approximated chemically by determining the average composition of apple wood leave leaves and fruit and by applying there figures to what nay may bo be consid rud good annual amounts of these prod products urte tho the total plant food draft of ft a mature and active orchard ie Is greater than that of a 25 bushel crop of wheat in every important constituent except phosphorus it Is practically therefore that sooner or inter later the output will be reduced or in off ox seasons will be developed iu lu any productive orchard because of a lack of sufficient plant food notwithstanding the AI vo N 4 k it the unfertilized tree trees on the left lef t have averaged Aver ared sred bushels per acre for four years while those on an the right differing only in the addition of manure have averaged Avs raged bushell bushall trees are usually able to maintain themselves mach better and longer than ahli 1 la s probably largely because of their much longer season of root activity bleir acre demands tho the annual return ot 0 most of the plant food in their leave leavea and their ability to oto curtail pic pi for one or more sea seasons sonni when conditions become unfavorable however it Is quito evident that very important of plant food are annually removed by an apple orchard scarcely any soil can furnish all those materials ria a indefinitely in the amounts and times required and unless proper assistance si al la Is rendered there must come a time when production Is materially reduced unless these elements are returned to the soil part of the orchards product requires comparatively email amounts of the important elements chis his Is to notably tnie true of the wood even when the annual production of mature tres s Is considered this largely accounts c for the fact that young trees are much less likely to make a profitable response to fertilizer applications than those of bearing age the younger trees often respond very well to mazure or any satisfactory mulch most orchard soils are supplied with potash in available aval lable forms and the chief abor seem to occur in the nitrogen and phosphates this Is the capa notwithstanding the fact that the latter materials are actually ren jred ired in considerably sider ably smaller amounts |