MANURING FRUIT TREES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXV, Issue 9091, 27 June 1888, Page 3

MANURING FRUIT TREES.

The following article on manuring fruit trees is taken from a New South Wales contemporary : —A series of investigations has lately taken place relative to the manuring of fruit trees. It is asserted that the generality of fruit trees take away from mother earth large amounts of mineral and other manures known as fertilising salts, and that either non-productiveness or smallness of the fruit is chiefly attributable to the exhaust-ion of these soluble salts. Experiments mi T .e on two sections of a vina plantation—one part left to nature and the other manured with soluble phosphates —proved that the grapes contained a great quantity of sugar and a considerable rise in the percentage of potash over the unmanured portion, also, that the plants, far more healthy in appearance, retained their leaves longer in the autumn, and were less liable to the attacks of oidium. If these statements are correct, it is evident thab the application of bonedust, nitrate of soda, guano, and other similar manures would have a very beneficial effect on our vines, whether they are grown for wine or dessert) purposes. ' Experiments go to prove also that strawberries show a wonderfully marked improvement when treated with themanuyes above mentioned. It has also been woU proved that peach trees gain a valuable ad-' vantage by the application of such manures, as the fact has been proved that the fruit of trees manured is both larger and better flavoured. If the plan is of advantage to the above-mentioned trees, it must be evident that it would be of advantage to ail other kinds of fruit trees, and entirely throws to the wind the dictum of an orange-grower that disease only appeared in the colony after such manures were administered to the trees. Dr. Goessmann's writings and experiences conclusively show that it is the want and not the application that causes the diseases complained of. Again, growers cling to the old-fashioned stable manure as being the most suitable ; but while we are not prepared to dispute its valuableness, it i 3 not the thing that nature requires, especially as in it cannot be found the mineral salts requisite to establish the deficiency caused by the absorption of the original elements by the trees. Our fruit tree growers have at command, weathei being favourable, manures, easily handled and easily applied, that will render fruitgrowing a more payable affair than hitherto, and result in good healthy growth and the keeping away of all manner of insecv pests. To do any good wet weather is necessary, and this much can be said in it*, favour—that no kind of , manure is of the least value when applied during dry weather, or when the soil itself is dry. Fruit tree growers need not be told that) towards the end of winter is the best time to dress vines and fruit trees. Again, by burning the prunings and dressing the soil with the ashes the grower will give in an indirect manner to his fruit trees valuable nitrates, and in these days of troublesome insect pests the most sensible method is always to burn the prunings in place of continuing the old practice of throwing them into a heap, from which in some form or other the enemy may escape and continue its damages. The value of these chemical or mineral manures is but yet imperfectly understood, and it is only owing to the scarcity of old-fashioned manures that growers have become conversant with their importance, and from older countries than this we can glean valuable information of their utility. Again, in this colony, stable manure is for the most part nearly valueless, consisting of sawdust and droppings, so that it is far cheaper in the end to use the manures advocated in this article. By-the-bye, the experimentalists advise that these manures should always be applied well under from the bole of the trees, a very sensible advice, considering that the root feeders are well away from the trunk, so that the application near the trunk must simply be a waste of money. While on the subject of chemical manures, our American cousins have been experimenting on their valuableness in potato cultivation. The old theory is that there is no better manure known for potatoes than good stable compost. Yet, strange to state, comparisons prove that the balance of crop is in favour of the soluble salts in the ratio of eight to six, thus fairly proving that . ground requires be renewed with these salts even to grow fair crops of potatoes. The conclusion is simply this: That all crops exhaust the soil more or less of mineral manures, and if the cultivator's object is to keep up fertility, he must in addition to ordinary manuring freely apply to the land in some shape or other chemical soluble salts known as fertilisers. To the vigneron the hints herein contained, that by applying these fertilisers the fruit will contain a greater percentage of potash, should be valuable, as by their application the genoral acidity so noticeable in our colonial wines may in a measure be overcome, and even when used for dessert purposes their lusciousness will be greatly enhanced. Those who grow gooseberries in the interior of the colony should not fail to well manure their bashes. It is a wellknown fact that gooseberries are gross feeders, and quickly exhaust the ground of any goodness that may be in it. Therelore if good fruit is required, manure of some sort should be given annually during the winter months. The same rule applies to currants, which, in regard to size of fruit, would be materially improved by the application of nitrates or good stable manure.