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meiits. The summt-r of 1923 was extremely dry. Tliis was followed 

 by warm rains in the late fall and ear]\- winter. On January G. 

 during- a period of liigh wind, the mercury dropped to within a few 

 degrees of zero, official reports recording temperatures of from f) to 8 

 degrees above zero at various nearby stations. 



On March 31. Dr. J. J. Skinner, of the Office of Soil Fertility In- 

 vestigations, in attending to the spring fertilizer applications, discov- 

 ered that a high proportion of the trees had been badly winter injured, 

 as indicated by the usual characteristic evidence. These included a 

 considerable exudence of sour and frothy sa]) from the trunks of the 

 trees, particularly those having smooth bark. This invariably occurred 

 on the west side. Shot-hole borers, whicli not infrequently follow such 

 injury, were already at work. 



This situation was at once called to the attention of the owner 

 of th.e orchard who lived some 50 miles away. He replied tliat al- 

 though he made frequent visits to the orchard, the matter had not at- 

 tracted his attention. nt)r had it been reported to him. On April 17, 

 he inspected the orchard and the day following, reported to the Bureau 

 by special delivery that as a result of a rather hasty inspection, he was 

 convinced tint from 16 to 20 per cent of tlu- trees in the experimental 

 tract were injured, but that in the rest of this orchard the injury was 

 insignificant. ])robably not exceeding t per cent. His not unnatural 

 deduction was that the high fertilization of the soil in the experimental 

 tract had caused tender growth which, under the extreme conditions of 

 the previous months, had been unable to survive. 



On April 21. a careful record of the condition of all trees in this 

 tract and of a representative number of those in adjacent parts of the 

 orchard, was made by ^Nlr. J. L. Pelhani of the Bureau of Plant Indus- 

 try and the writer, in company with the owner of tlie orchard and his 

 superintendent. It was found that in the experimental tract, oO per 

 cent of the trees liad been visibly injured, thus exceeding the owner's 

 maximum estimatt- by about 30 per cent. Of the total number of trees, 

 20 per cent were regarded as being slightly injured, and 30 per cent 

 severely so. Of the fertilized trees within the experimental tract, 55 

 per cent showed injury to some degree as compared with 58 per cent 

 of the trees unfertilized, also within the tract. 



Inspection of the trees outside of the exjierimental tract showed 

 that 52.6 per cent were affected. 1-0.8 per cent being slightly, and 11.8 

 ijer cent severely injured. A second inspection made June 9 showed 



