20 U. OF X. H. AGR. EXPERIMENT STATION [Bulletin 227 



it is felt, therefore, that they should fairly represent all the non- 

 bearing spurs on these trees at the sampling date. 



In May, 1926, counts were made as to the number of blossoms pro- 

 duced by spurs non-fruiting the previous season and similar in every 

 respect to those used for analysis during the previous year. Counts 

 of at least 30 spurs were made in ten different parts of the tree. 

 Where the stubs of spurs sampled the previous season could be seen, 

 care was taken to make counts on the spurs immediately adjacent to 

 those which had been used for the chemical samples. In all, counts 

 were made with about 96,000 spurs. These indicate that the different 

 plots have an excellent range in percentage of fruit buds produced, 

 varying from 2.7 i^er cent in Plot 2 of the Woodman Orchard, to 59.2 

 per cent in Plot 10 of the Renovated Orchard at the Horticultural 

 Farm, with the remaining 24 jilots distributed between these two in 

 a fairly uniform sequence. 



Chemical analysis has been carried on as outlined. By having a 

 large number of plots and studying the results by means of correla- 

 tion coefficients, it is expected that it will be possible to sift the evi- 

 dence and determine which constituents of the spur are uniformly 

 associated with high i)ercentage of flower bud formation. The math- 

 ematical work is just now being begun. 



Late Fertilizer Applications and Fruit Bud Formation 



A new phase of the fruit bud work was inaugurated this season, 

 namely a study of the effect of late aiiplications of nitrogenous fer- 

 tilizers on trees growing in sod. The usual practice in orchards of 

 this sort is to ap})ly about five pounds of nitrate of soda or some sim- 

 ilar material to each large bearing tree before the blossoms open. 

 Trees under this treatment were compared to trees receiving in 

 addition approximately fifty per cent of this amount between July 1 

 and about August 1. This work has been carried on in an old Bald- 

 win sod orchard at the Horticultural Farm and also in an excellent 

 commercial orchard of the same variety about 40 years of age, the 

 property of A. P. Rockwood in Temple, N. H. A few trees of Mc- 

 intosh are also under test in Temple. 



In the Baldwin orchard at the Horticultural Farm these fertilizer 

 applications were made during the seasons of 1925 and 1926. In the 

 spring of 1926 counts were made of the percentage of fruit buds formed 

 under each treatment. These results are presented in Table VIII. It 

 will be noted that the fertilizer did not affect percentage of fruit buds 

 formed. 



Records were taken this season to measure the effect of the fertilizer, 

 if any, on the size of the apples by counting and weighing the fruits. 

 The results obtained are presented in Table IX. 



It appears that the fertilizer has had no effect on size. Some question 

 may be raised, however, because the average yield is nearly one-third 

 greater on the trees receiving late fertilization; in fact several trees 

 in the plot fertilized in the spring only bore very few and consequently 

 relatively large fruits. Using the method i)ublished by Wallace and 

 Snedecor, it may be found that the correlation coefficient between yield 

 in pound and size of fruit in ounces is —0.647 ±0.088. From this 



