yards under sod conditions, where the
grass is cut and left on top.

Most of our Ontario soils are deficient in organic matter and, depending
on location, deficient in phosphate or potash, or both together. The
mineral deficiency should first be corrected by liberal applications of
the required fertilizer before placing the plantations in sod, in fact
it would pay to do this several years before setting out the trees,
growing alfalfa on this land and returning all the hay back into the
soil. For plantations already set out these minerals could be placed in
a furrow cut just under the outer spread of the branches. Our soils have
a high fixation factor for phosphate and potash and we have found that
the best practice is to place the fertilizer under the surface either
with a deep-placement machine or as outlined above.

After the plantation is in sod an application of 500 to 1,000 lbs. of a
4-8-10 fertilizer every fifth year should take care of the mineral
requirements. However, our experience with fruit in general where
planted in sod is that not sufficient care is taken to keep the trees
well supplied with nitrogen, many growers laboring under the mistaken
idea that just the sod is sufficient. Liberal applications of either
manure or nitrate in the spring is necessary to make sure that the tree
gets its required nitrogen and not just the sod alone. Mineral
fertilizers should be applied in the late fall, for under our conditions
fixation of phosphate and potash is considerably less at that time. The
plantation may be seeded down in the early spring but mulch should not
be added until late fall. Applying the mulch in late fall will allow the
material to fill up with water from the fall rains and winter snows, and
so prevent the serious withholding of water from the trees during dry
spells in the summer, because the light summer rains are seldom
sufficient to soak through the dry mulch material. We have had several
instances where a summer-applied mulch has seriously robbed the tree of
needed moisture during dry weather. Do not look for immediate
improvement from sod-mulch, it will take at least two years to become
well established. Improvement should begin to show up the second year
after applying.

We sometimes see a chlorotic condition of the foliage, different from
the pale yellow foliage due to nitrogen deficiency, which occurs on
marginal or shallow soil and often where the soil remains too moist, as
along a water