Feb., 1925] PROGRESS OF AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENTS 27 



Table XV'. — Per cent set and fruits per spur on non-disbudded trees, 1933 and 1934. 



Tree 

 number. 



224. 

 229. 

 232. 

 236. 

 260. 

 264. 

 268. 

 272. 

 295. 

 299. 

 307. 



Average 



Total 



blossom 



spurs. 



2811 



2 



37 



85 



73 



47 



473 



451 



1847 



3545 



2959 



Number 



spurs 



setting 



fruit. 



1162 



3 



38 



36 



36 



16 



159 



240 



813 



1014 



963 



Per 

 cent 

 set, 

 1924. 



41.3 

 100.0 

 100.0 

 42.4 

 49.3 

 34.0 

 33.6 

 53.2 

 44.0 

 28.6 

 32.5 



50.8 



Per 

 cent 

 set, 

 1923. 



62.1 

 51.1 

 57.4 

 55.7 

 61.3 

 39.3 



59.0 



62. 

 58. 

 38. 

 65. 



55.5 



Average 



per cent 



set, 



1923- 



1924. 



51.7 

 75.5 

 78.7 

 49.0 

 55.3 

 36.6 

 46.3 

 57.6 

 51.1 

 33.6 

 48.9 



53.1 



Total 



apples, 



1924. 



1715 

 3 



68 



51 



46 



17 



207 



339 



1240 



1490 



1023 



Average 



apples 



per spur, 



1924. 



1.48 



00 



79 



42 



28 



06 



30 



1.41 



1.53 



1.47 



1.06 



1.35 



.\verage 



apples 



per spur, 



1923. 



2.13 

 2.30 

 1.95 

 1.71 

 1.56 

 1.40 

 1.78 

 1.86 

 1.91 

 2.46 

 2.30 



1.95 



Average 

 apples 



per spur, 

 1923- 

 1924. 



1.80 



65 



1 



1.87 

 1.56 

 1.42 

 1.23 

 1.54 

 1.63 

 1.72 

 1.96 

 1.68 



1.64 



T.\BLE XVI. — Per cent set and fruits per spur on disbudded trees, 1933 and 1934. 



It will be noted that in 1923, when presumably the nutritional conditions of 

 the tree had been disturbed by the foliage loss due to the budding, the average 

 set on the disbudded trees was 71.8 per cent, and on the non-disbudded 55.5 

 per cent. The effect of the budding which reduced the foliage in the spring of 

 1923 would be to decrease the proportion of sugars, starches and organic foods 

 available to the spurs and to increase proportionally the amounts of water and 

 mineral substances gathered by the roots. The shift in proportion of these two 

 substances was evidently of such a nature as to increase the number of blossoms 

 setting fruit. In 192-4 the disbudded trees again showed a greater set than the 

 non-disbudded trees, the setting being 50.8 per cent on the trees not budded by 

 the birds and 65.2 per cent on those which had been budded. The average set 

 for the two years is 68.5 per cent on the trees disbudded and 53.1 per cent on the 

 trees not disbudded. It was the original plan of the experiment to count the 

 number of apples and determine the average size of the fruits at harvest time 

 on the eleven trees of each plot upon which detailed observation was being 



