STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 87 



along and make everything as uniform as possible. Then I 

 would measure the trees. And it is the diameter of the trunk 

 at a certain definite point that is the best index of tree growth. 

 We have tried every other system, leaf weights, and twig 

 growths, and various things and have discarded them all as 

 practically worthless, with the exception of the trunk diameter 

 or trunk circumference at a definite point. 



Ques. How do you fix that point ? 



Ans. We put a nail in the trunk at the point we want and let 

 it stand out about three-quarters of an inch, and when the tree 

 grows out around it, we either pull it out further or put another 

 one in. Then the fruit should be actually weighed, or meas- 

 ured with extreme care, from every tree and recorded to that 

 tree and the record kept from year to year; then at the end of 

 three or four years, sum up those records and see what those 

 plots have done. Often, of course, where we have the striking 

 results such as I have shown you here, a man does not have to 

 keep a very close record to know what is happening. You can 

 see them as far as you can see the orchard. But in many cases 

 you cannot expect such tremendous results, and in such cases 

 the definite records are needed. 



Ques. Have you found that your fertilized plots were more 

 susceptible to disease than others? 



Ans. Not materially so, except once in a while our most 

 vigorously growing plots have been more subject to blight. 



Ques. What do you call blight? 



Ans. The ordinary fire blight. 



Ques. Do you have any winter injury caused by fertilization? 



Ans. I do not believe I have had a particle of winter injury 

 from any treatment that we have applied there. And I was 

 expecting to have some, because we put on our nitrogen ferti- 

 lizer in some cases as late as the 8th of July, but I have not 

 noticed even the tip end of a twig that seemed to be injured by 

 winter injury. 



Ques. What would be your idea on the conditions here? 



Ans. It might cause some winter injury here, but that is 

 another thing that can be determined by trying; and I do not 

 know how it can be really determined in any other way. If the 

 soil about the trees is well supplied with moisture, there is 

 usually less danger from the direct freezing type of winter 

 injury. 



