584 Report of the Department of Horticulture of the 



During the winter of 1909-1910 approximately 50 per ct. of the 

 buds, as we have seen, were killed. Counts made of injured buds 

 in the different plats showed that the damage was uniform through- 

 out the vineyard and that the fertilizers had not affected hardiness 

 of bud. This condition was reflected, as Table V shows, in the 

 uniformity of yields in the several plats in 1910. Not only were 

 the yields about equal over the entire section for the year 1910 but 

 the small crop, by not taxing the vines, probably served also to 

 equalize the 1911 crop which was as uniformly high as the crop of 

 1910 was low. Thus the season of 1910 may be considered a rest 

 period. Differences in yield between the check and fertilized plats 

 in both 1910 and 1911 were so slight that they are within the range 

 of accidental variation. 



The yield records for 1912, however, show marked differences 

 in the several plats. From them it will be seen that only one fer- 

 tilized plat, No. 1, to which was applied complete fertilizer and lime, 

 fell below the check. The vines on the part of the section that 

 includes this plat, with the adjacent plats, it will be remembered, 

 were lacking in vigor at the beginning of the experiment. It is 

 probable that their poor condition is reflected in the yields of 1912. 



The differences in yield this year between the check and the 

 fertilized plats range from four-tenths of a ton to one and thirty- 

 eight-hundredths tons per acre. The yields over the entire section 

 were above the average for that of the five years. 



In 1913, the check plat is, without exception, the lowest producer. 

 The differences between it and the fertilized plats range from fifty- 

 four-hundredths of a ton in the case of Plat 5, phosphorus 

 and potassium, to one and eighty-three-hundredths tons with Plat 

 10, nitrogen and potash. In this year both of the phosphorus and 

 potassium plats, which up to 1913 produced crops comparable 

 with any of the others, gave lower yields than any other fertilized 

 plats. This seems to indicate that the lack of nitrogen in these plats 

 is beginning to be felt. 



The five-year averages for the plats indicate that all have produced 

 more than ordinary crops for the period and while the showing for 

 the check is good, the fact that it dropped behind in 1912 and 1913 

 probably means that the fertilizers are beginning to tell in the fer- 

 tilized plats. We shall see that the fertilized vines show improve- 

 ment as well. 



