IQiS 



BETTER FRUIT 



Page 15 



arrangement saves in thinning costs, 

 gives higher average yields and is more 

 satisfactory from many standpoints. 



Can nitrate influence the tree in this 

 respect? May the average degree of 

 bloom shown by the individual tree 

 from year to year be increased, and to 

 what extent may the well known habit 

 of Spitzenburgs in wide fluctuation be 

 modified? With this point in mind I 

 have kept individual tree records dur- 

 ing the past three years. For purposes 

 of comparison the degree of full bloom 

 exhibited by the individual tree has 

 been classified on a percentage basis as 

 follows: 100%, 50%, 20%, 5%. and 0%. 

 Briefly, Spitzenburgs receiving two ap- 

 plications of nitrate during the past 

 three years, previous to which lack of 

 irrigation or cover crops prevailed, 

 show considerable difference over trees 

 not fertilized. In the former case trees 

 showed an average bloom of 11% for 

 three years, versus only 64% for the 

 unfertilized trees. There appears to be 

 but slight difTerence in this respect as 

 between trees receiving two successive 

 annual applications of nitrate and those 

 receiving two applications but with one 

 intervening year during which no ferti- 

 lizer was applied. Trees receiving as 

 high as seven pounds nitrate per tree 

 show slightly better averages in degree 

 of bloom than those receiving only five 

 or three pounds per tree. Please keep 

 in mind that the trees thus referred to 

 were being rapidly transferred from a 

 state of low vitality and production by 

 repeated applications of nitrate, which 

 under more normal conditions would 

 not have been justified. Furthermore, 

 although clover has been growing be- 

 tween the trees during the past three 

 years it has not yet been turned under. 

 Let us study these trees further. We 

 have seen that the average degree of 

 bloom for three years difTered mate- 

 rially. What have the individual trees 

 been doing? To what extent has the 

 tendency to light bloom one year and 

 heavy the next been overcome? Briefly, 

 trees receiving the seven-pound appli- 

 cations show a maximum average varia- 

 tion of 57%; those five pounds, 66%; 

 those three pounds, 70%, while the irti- 

 fertilized trees show as much as 81%. 

 What of the minimum variation? Trees 

 receiving seven pounds show but 17%>; 

 those five pounds, 45%; those three 

 pounds, 65%, versus 66%j for the unfer- 

 tilized trees. Putting the proposition in 

 another way, although heavily nitrated 

 trees have varied as much as 57%), they 

 have also approached within 17% of 0% 

 variation, the assumed ideal. On the 

 other hand, unfertilized trees, although 

 showing as high as SKo maximum vari- 

 ation, have never come closer than 66% 

 of the ideal, or a difference of 49%) in 

 this regard in favor of the heavily nit- 

 rated trees. 



Let us study blooming hal)ils in two 

 other orchards, both of wliich are now 

 more tyi)ical of Hood River conditions. 

 We will call one the clover sod orchard 

 and the other the alfalfa orchard, since 

 the former had clover turned under as 

 a green manure in the spring of 1916 

 and the other has had alfalfa continu- 

 ously since the spring of 1915. Both 



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orchards, with the exception of the 

 check trees in each case, received nit- 

 rate in the spring of 1914 and 1915, 

 after which it was decided that no 

 further apphcations were necessary. 

 This was especially true where clover 

 was turned under, in that all trees, 

 whether fertilized or not, became ex- 

 tremely vigorous. On an average there 

 is little practical difference between 

 any of the plats in either orchard, re- 

 gardless of whether nitrate had been 

 applied or not. Nor does the general 

 average for one orchard as compared 

 with the other differ materially. It 

 would seem to indicate that where trees 

 are of moderate vigor or above, there is 

 a point beyond which they cannot go, 

 even though given additional nitrate. 

 This was further indicated in 1918 

 when two of the previously nitrated 

 plats received a third ;ipi)lication. How- 

 ever, as has been pointed out for the 

 first orchards referred to, nitrate has 

 exerted a steadying influence on bloom 

 from year to year, there being differ- 

 ences of as nuich as 21" for the clover 

 sod and 18.6% for the ilfalfa orchard 



in variation, in favor of the fertilized 

 blocks. 



We are interested further in knowing 

 how efficient the tree may be in making 

 full use of the amount of bloom avail- 

 able from year to year. There are a 

 number of ways by which this may be 

 measured, but the grower wants to 

 know how yields are influenced, since 

 this is the real measure of success. In 

 dealing with this subject let us again 

 study the first two orchards referred to; 

 those having been brought under the 

 influence of nitrate for the first time in 

 1916 and where clover has not yet been 

 turned under. Here, higher average 

 yields are associated with heaviest ap- 

 plications put on during the first two 

 years of the experiment, rather than 

 with plats receiving similar amounts 

 but with one intervening year during 

 which no fertilizer was applied. For 

 instance, with Spitzenburgs, two succes- 

 sive annual applications of seven pounds 

 nitrate per tree gave a three-year aver- 

 age of 12.6 loose boxes per tree, versus 

 only 8.,'j boxes for trees receiving simi- 

 lar amounts but with the intervening 

 year. With Newtowns a similar relation 



