te of ten loads per acre for a light
application to twenty loads per acre for a heavy application. This
amounts to a load for from two to five mature trees. Such an
application will not only go far toward supplying the necessary
nitrogen, phosphoric acid, and potash, but especially if coarse will
add considerable humus and improve the physical condition of the soil.

Except on land which washes badly, manure should be applied in the
fall and winter. It should not be piled near the trunk of the tree but
spread uniformly over the entire surface of the ground. It is
particularly important to spread the manure under and beyond the
farthest extent of the branches as this is the most important feeding
root area of the tree.

COMMERCIAL FERTILIZERS.--Where manure is not available or where it
cannot be applied in sufficient amounts, commercial fertilizers may be
resorted to, after they have been experimentally tested out.
Leguminous cover crops are the best source of nitrogen, as has been
indicated, but where these do not grow well, or in seasons when they
have for some reason failed, nitrate of soda or dried blood are good
substitutes. From two hundred to three hundred pounds of one or the
other of these may be applied broadcast in the spring soon after
growth is well started and all danger of its being checked by frost or
cold weather is past. It is well to apply the nitrate of soda in two
applications a few weeks apart, especially on soils which are leachy
and in wet seasons, as part of the nitrogen may leach away if all is
applied at once. These should be thoroughly worked into the soil with
a spring-tooth harrow.

To supply the other two elements, from two hundred to four hundred
pounds of treated rock phosphate or basic slag for the phosphoric
acid, and the same amount of sulphate of potash for the potash, should
be applied at any time in the early part of the season, preferably
just before a light rain, and worked into the soil as before.
Home-made wood ashes are a good source of both these elements, and
especially of the potash. They cannot be purchased economically in any
quantity, but on the general farm there could be no better way to
utilize the wood ashes made around the place than by applying them two
or three bushels to a full grown tree every year or two. Wood ashes
are also a good source of lime, being about one-third calcium oxide.
Thus a large amount of available plant food will be supplied to the
tree, a