limited to unfertilized trees. The principal objective was to compare or correlate 

 the results for control trees on individual Growers' Plots with the soil analysis 

 for those plots. A second objective was to try to establish some standards of 

 nutrient levels in healthy balsam fir within the geographic area of this study. 

 Such standards, stated in percentages or in parts per million for the major soil 

 elements, could help to identify the nature of a nutritional deficiency in sickly 

 trees. 



The general methods employed in both soil and foliar analyses in the study 

 are presented in the appendix. 



The results of chemical foliar analysis of control trees on the Growers' plots 

 is presented in Table 5, and can be compared with the soil analysis for the same 

 plots in Table 6. Samples of foliage were taken in late September 1966, con- 

 fined to current year's growth, and were a mix from various whorls of the control 

 trees sampled on the plot . 



There was little correlation between soil nutrient level and foliar content of 

 selected elements. Direct comparison of the quantitative results in Tables 5 and 

 6 is supplemented by Table 7 presenting a relative comparison of nutrient level 

 in both soil and foliage either numerically or in symbol. Trees on soils relatively 

 high in nitrogen content may show relatively low, average, or high level of foliar 

 nitrogen. A correlation between soil nitrogen and organic matter present may 

 logically be expected but was not statistically significant in these data. A positive 

 correlation may exist between foliar phosphorus and soil reserve phosphorus but 

 with the limited data at hand from the Growers' Plots this is conjectural. 



B. Canterbury, New Hampshire Late June Foliar Analyses 



Foliar analyses were made of 16 healthy balsam fir growing in Canterbury, 

 New Hampshire (north of Concord and the southernmost of the numerous loca- 

 tions in the work with balsam fir). This was one of the "Main" plot locations. 

 Here comparisons were made between current (1965) needles and one year old 

 (1964) needles on the same tree (Table 7). The table also contains the previously 

 presented results of September samplings on the Growers' Plots, for comparative 

 purposes. The area of June samplings is removed geographically from those of 

 September samplings but the data nevertheless suggests that the time of year 

 could have a large influence on results obtained from foliar analysis. At Canter- 

 bury, the primary nutrients NPK (nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium) were 

 present in greater amount in current as against one year old needles, with this 

 trend reversed in other nutrients. The differences between current and one year 

 old foliage proved to be significant. 



Further work was done at Canterbury, again with June gathered foliar 

 samples, confirming the previous point and indicating in addition that in rela- 

 tively "green" trees the NPK percentages may be somewhat greater in the tops 

 as against the base of trees (Table 8). No data from fall samplings is available to 

 support this point. It would nevertheless appear well to standardize foliar 

 samplings not only as to (1) age of foliage and (2) time during the growing 

 season but also as to (3) the vertical portion of the tree crown sampled. 



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