No. 7. 



DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 

 TABLE Jf— Continued 



237 



Expts. 336, 338, 339. 



Color. 



1909. 



NITROGKN, in combination, .. 

 PHOSPHATE, in combination, 



POTASH in combination 



MANURE, alone 



LIME, alone, 



-11.97o 

 -2.7 

 - .3 

 -2.4 



*The results here given are calculated or taken from Tables II and III. For example, the 

 value of nitrogen in combination was obtained by following the formula NP+NK— PK. In other 

 words, the per cents, of benefit obtained in plots two and three were added and from this 

 sum was deducted the per cent, of benefit in plot 5. The remainder, divided by 2, is consid- 

 ered to be the value of nitrogen in the combination. The other values in combination were 

 obtained similarly. 



tPer cent, of increase in trunk girth. 



These results, being derived from those in Table II and III, are 

 naturally not materially difterent, but the values of the individual 

 elements stand out more sharply. 



Nitrogen and stable manure show strikingly beneficial effects on 

 both jdeld and growth and characteristically harmful effects on 

 color. The effect of manure is greatest in the third year of the 

 first three experiments, while that of nitrogen is astonishingly great 

 in the second year of the three later experiments. 



Phosphates are showing considerable value on yield, especially 

 when used in connection with other materials. Their ettect on color 

 and growth is apparently undecided, as three i)er cent, variations 

 from the normal are attributable to limitations in our methods of 

 determining values. Potash, in combination, has shown fairly good 

 effects on yield and growth in the first three experiments, but has 

 apparently proved rather distinctly harmful on yield in the second 

 three; and considering the results in all six experiments its value 

 in improving color is very questionable. 



Lime in the first three experiments shows a distinct deficit in 

 yield, and no advantage in color, but apparently a fair increase in 

 growth. In the other experiments an apparent benefit in yield is 

 shown. This, however, is traceable to an unusual increase on the 

 lime plot of experiment 339, an increase which was due probably 

 more to a favorable moisture situation this year than to any effect 

 of the lime. It is surely a significant fact that in five out of six 

 places thus far, lime shows either no effect or a distinct deficit in 

 yield. 



It will be noted that practically none of the treatments have 

 materially improved color while a number of them have distinctly 

 decreased it. This reduction in color is undoubtedly associated with 

 delayed maturity and a diruinished light supply to the fruit, the latter 

 being due to an increase in the density of foliage following the ap 

 plication of the fertilizers. The value of sunlight in developing 

 redness in apples is scarcely appreciated. In a test conducted 

 during the past fall on York Imperials it was found that exposure 

 to sunlight after picking increased the redness by over thirty-five 



