EFFECT OF SOIL TREATMENT ON THE ROSETTE OF PECAN TREES 
The first part of this bulletin reports the results of field experi- 
ments which were begun in 1918 and continued until 1923 on two 
prominent soil types in southern Georgia to study the effects of 
fertilizers of various composition and the effect of soil conditions on 
pecan rosette. No definite information as to the influence of com- 
mercial fertilizers or of any particular fertilizer ingredient was 
obtained, but some very interesting observations were made. 
Special stud} 7 was made of the relation of the amount of organic 
matter in the soil to the prevalence of rosette in pecan orchards, as 
early observations indicated that the organic matter of the soil had 
considerable effect, either direct or indirect, on the condition of the 
orchard grown thereon. In these experiments fertilizers of various 
compositions and ratios were used. Phosphate, nitrogen, and potash 
were used singly and in combinations, the ratios varying in each 
mixture. One of the orchards on which the work was conducted is 
located near Cairo, Ga.. on Norfolk fine sandy loam; the other is in 
Dougherty County, Ga., on Greenville sandy loam. 
NORFOLK FINE SANDY LOAM 
The Norfolk line sandy loam on which the experiment was con- 
ducted consists of to dark-gray fine sandy loam overlying a 
friable yellow sandy clay. Two phases of this soil type occur in the 
orchard, the medium phase and the deep phase. The medium phase 
is underlain at about 12 inches by a yellow heavy line sandy loam 
which abruptly passes into bright-yellow friable fine sandy clay. 
The deep phase differs essentially in its greater depth to the subsoil 
clay. The gray loamy fine sand is underlain at 20 to 22 inches by a 
yellow heavy fine sandy loam which passes into a bright-yellow clay 
loam or fine sandy clay. The organic matter in this phase is more 
rapidly exhausted under cultivation than with the shallower phases. 
The natural drainage of the soil is good. The mechanical analysis 
of the Norfolk fine sandy loam is given in Table 1 . 
Table 1.— Mechanical analysis of Norfolk fine sandy loam from Cairo, Ga. 
Soil material 
Constituents (per cent) 
Fine 
gravel 
Coarse 
sand 
Medium 
sand 
8.9 
5.3 
Fine Very fine 
sand sand 
Silt 
Clay 
Soil 
0.6 
9 
7.3 
6.8 
39. 5 1 26. 1 
37. 5 , 17. 9 
1 
ll.l 
9.7 
6.5 
21.9 
The orchard has an area of about 14 acres. It was planted in 
December, 1904, to Frotscher pecan trees, and from that time to 
1918 such crops as cotton, corn, peanuts, and velvet beans were 
grown between the rows. About 200 pounds of commercial fertilizer 
was applied each year to the annual crops. No effort was made prior 
to 1918 to increase the organic matter in the soil, and nothing was 
plowed under except cotton stalks and cornstalks. Forage crops 
were cut for hay. The soil at that time was not productive. Tlie 
unproductiveness was apparently the result of many years of con- 
