Food for Plants. 129 



AYliere the Nitrate of Soda is used, I find a greatly 

 increased ability in trees to resist drought, and lack of 

 cultivation." 



" Luther Burbank is the greatest originator of new 

 and valuable forms of plant life of this or any other 

 age," says David Starr Jordan, President of Leland 

 Stanford Junior University, California. 



WINTER SPRAYING WITH SOLUTIONS OF NITRATE OF 



SODA. 



By W. S. Ballard, PatJiologist, Fruit-Disease Investigations, Bureau 

 of Plant Industry, and W. H. Volck, County Horticultural Com- 

 missioner of Santa Cruz County, California. 



These investigations were conducted in co-operation between the Office of 

 Fruit-Disease Investigations of the Bureau of Plant Industry and the office 

 of the County Horticultural Commissioner of Santa Cruz County, located at 

 Watsonville, Cal. 



Introduction. 



Recently several investigators have reported results 

 in shortening the rest period of a number of woody 

 plants by immersing the dormant shoots in weak nutri- 

 ent solutions or by injecting solutions of alcohol, ether, 

 and various acids into the twigs. These experiments 

 have been conducted in the laboratory with short cut- 

 tings of the plants. The effect of such treatment has 

 been to force the dormant buds out several days ahead 

 of the normal opening period. 



During the last two years the writers have obtained 

 similar and additional results on a much larger scale by 

 spraying dormant fruit trees with strong solutions of 

 certain commercial fertilizers, especially Nitrate of 

 Soda. Since these experiments have been conducted 

 on the entire trees in the orchard, it has been possible 

 to observe the effects throughout the whole season. 

 The investigations have not yet been carried far enough 

 to permit drawing any conclusions regarding the physi- 

 ologic action of such spraying, but because of its prac- 

 tical value these preliminary results seem deserving of 

 attention at this time. 

 5 



