April 7, 1912. Trees in the row sprayed with Nitrate of Soda 

 and lye are well in bloom, while those in the check row adjoining 

 and in the remainder of the unsprayed orchard are showing only 177 

 an occasional flower fully opened. 



April 14, 1912. The relative advancement of the row sprayed 

 with a solution of Nitrate of Soda and lye and the check plat 

 is the same as noted on April 7. The Nitrate-sprayed trees are 

 nearly in full bloom, whereas comparatively few blossoms have 

 opened on the check plat. 



When the check row had reached full bloom, the row sprayed 

 with a solution of Nitrate of Soda and lye was practically out of 

 bloom. 



Thus, the Nitrate spraying advanced the blossom- 

 ing time about two weeks ahead of the normal period. 

 It is characteristic of the Yellow Bellflower variety of 

 apples in the Pajaro Valley that the foliage buds come 

 out early, so that by the time the full-bloom period is 

 reached the trees are showing a considerable amount 

 of young foliage. The Nitrate spraying produced a 

 change in this respect. While the flower buds were 

 greatly stimulated in coming out, the foliage buds were 

 not so much affected, and the result was that when 

 the trees sprayed with a solution of Nitrate of Soda 

 and lye were in full bloom and two weeks in advance 

 of the check trees in that regard, their foliage condition 

 was relatively nearer that of the check. Plate L shows 

 the comparative stages of the Nitrate-sprayed and the 

 check trees at that time. A decided contrast will be 

 seen in the relative advancement of the bloom on the 

 tree sprayed with Nitrate of Soda (PL L, fig. 1)* as com- 

 pared with the check tree (PI. L, fig. 2).* This contrast 

 is shown more in detail in Plate LI, in which figure 1 

 shows a branch from a Nitrate-sprayed tree, while 

 figure 2 shows one from a check tree. Both branches 

 were collected on the same day. An examination of 

 the figures in Plate L will show that the advancement 

 of the foliage Jon the Nitrate-sprayed tree is compara- 

 tively less marked than that of the bloom. This same 

 condition is shown in detail in Plate LI, in which it 

 will be seen that there is relatively little difference in 

 the advancement of the foliage of the sprayed and 

 unsprayed branches. Later in the spring, however, the 



* For plates, see original article. 



