78 STATE POMOI.OGICAL SOCIETY. 



dition of the soil in the manner necessary to secure the results 

 most to be desired, yet we should learn to recognize the influence 

 of such conditions in their effect upon the variation of the vari- 

 eties which we are growing when we see the same varieties being 

 grown by others and giving them much better results than we 

 are getting, and if we can correctly diagnose the cause of the 

 undesirable variation, its remedy, oftentimes, is readily forth- 

 coming. 



Again, relative productiveness is often a noticeable variation. 

 A variety produces abundantly in one place and is a "shy bearer" 

 in some other, with no apparent reason for it. -.^ay I suggest 

 that a lack of fertility often accounts for such results. A single 

 example will emphasize the assertion. In one of the mountain 

 orchards of Virginia which have been under my observation for 

 several years there are a large number of "York Imperial" trees. 

 r^ few years ago the owner applied South Carolina rock to a few 

 of them at the rate of 400 or 500 pounds per acre. The next 

 year, which was the "off-year" for this varietv, the trees which 

 had received the South Carolina rock blossomed very full and 

 produced a heavy crop of excellent fruit, while the other trees 

 not so treated did not even blossom. The effect" of this treat- 

 ment lasted for a number of years ; the trees bore more regularly, 

 more abundantly, and the fruit was finer in every way. As the 

 treatment was the same in every other respect, aside from the 

 application of the fertilizer, there can be no doubt but that this 

 variation from alternate bearing to annual crops was due to the 

 added plant food. Indeed, such a variation is a very material 

 one. I must hasten to say, however, that it does not necessarily 

 follow that similar results will always appear from the applica- 

 tion of South Carolina rock, but in this particular orchard it 

 seemed to be just what was needed. 



The nitrogen supply of the soil is a potent element in pro- 

 ducing results which are readily noticed and which are some- 

 times unexpected and undesired. The excessive growth of trees 

 in soil rich in nitrogen and the poorly colored fruit grown 

 thereon are matters of common observation. 1 ne relative time 

 of ripening of fruit grown under such conditions is worthy of 

 incidental notice. I know one apple grower who tells me that 

 he can delay the ripening period of his apples three weeks by the 



