534 



ANNUAL, REPORT OF THE 



Off. Doc. 



The stroug iullueuce of nitrogen both on fruit and foliage is one 

 of the striking features in these experiments to date. This is par- 

 ticularly true in the Bedford county experiment, on a thin, exhausted, 

 stony clay. Its effect in relation to the time of application here 

 we believe also to be significant. The first application was made 

 in the form of nitrate of soda as a top-dressing on July 8, 1907. 

 Not only was the efifect of the nitrogen plainly evident before the 

 close of August and during the remainder of the season, but tbc 

 trees of these nitrogen plots came out again into leaf much greener 

 the following spring and showed as marked differences in late May 

 of 1908, before the second application as they had shown in the 

 preceding autumn. This undoubtedly has a bearing on the time for 

 applying soluble transient fertilizers to such perennial plant as 

 apple trees. 



Coupled with the Woburn experience, it indicates (though it has 

 not proved) the advisability of delaying such applications until the 

 season's growth is well advanced, but not completed ; in other words, 

 until the plant's supply of stored food is about exhausted and avail- 

 able food becomes a limiting factor. 



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