376 State Horticultural Society. 



will follow, but if growers continue increasing their planting as in the 

 past three years in j\Iissouri and Arkansas, great disappointment and loss 



will follow. 



B. F. Smith, 



Douglas Co., Kan. 



HOW TO USE ^TRATE OF SODA. 



H. T. A., New Jersey. — I would like to ask just how^ to apply sul- 

 phate of potash and nitrate of soda to strawberry plants. Some say that 

 it will injure the plants if applied directly to them, and that it should 

 be put between the rows. It seems as though the latter course leaves the 

 fertilizer too far away from the plants. 



Answer. — In our work with fertilizers and nitrate of soda for the 

 strawberry, always applied broadcast, we have never had any injurious 

 results. The first was applied early in the season, and the nitrate at 

 blossoming time, when its action is to favor fruit development rather than 

 leaf growth. Our conclusions were that it is inadvisable to apply nitrate 

 of soda in connection Avith a fertilizer already rich in nitrogen. With 

 low-grade materials, its addition is beneficial to the crop. The sulphate 

 of ammonia has always given negative results except in the presence of 

 lime. Do not apply when the foliage is wet. With a dry foliage or just 

 preceding a rain, no injury should result. Applying before a rain insures 

 its rapid passage into the soil, hence it is quickly available where other- 

 wise it might lie on the surface for days, and with a little moisture, as 

 dew, cause injury to the plants. 



A. T. Jordan, 

 Xew Jersey Experiment Station. 



WATER AS A PROTECTION AGAINST FROSTS. 



Last year there was a hard frost wdien the strawberries were in 

 blossom and the plants were badly frozen just before daylight. I began 

 to sprinkle them with the liose and before the sun was shining upon 

 them I had drawn nearly all the frost out of the plants. They did not 



