Feb. i < 5 ,1914 
Winter Spraying with Nitrates 
441 
ward side. Also, the individual blossoms were conspicuously larger than 
those of any other plat, and, so far as could be judged at the time the 
frost occurred, a good crop was setting all over the trees. Thus, it ap¬ 
pears that this effect of the nitrate of soda had continued over to the 
second year. 
At present, all things considered, the best results have been obtained 
by using a mixture made up as follows: 
Nitrate of soda. 200 pounds. 
Caustic soda. 25 pounds. 
Water. 200 gallons. 
In preparing this solution the required quantity of water was placed 
in the spray tank and the agitator started. When the water was in motion, 
the required weight of nitrate of soda was added gradually. Any large 
lumps were first broken up into pieces about the size of hen's eggs. The 
caustic soda was then added, and in about 15 minutes from the time the 
preparation was begun the mixture was ready for applying. 
The trees were very thoroughly sprayed on all sides, so that all of the 
small twigs were drenched. The best results so far obtained have come 
from the spraying applied about the 1st of February. Of course, 
weather conditions must be taken into consideration. A rain immedi¬ 
ately following the application will wash much of the material off of the 
trees, and it is probable that at least a week of clear weather should 
follow the spraying, in order to insure good results. 
In all of this work on spraying a solution of nitrate of soda on the trees 
a considerable quantity fell to the ground, and the question will be raised 
as to whether the various effects observed have not been simply the re¬ 
sult of the fertilizer action of the nitrate on the soil. About 7 gallons of 
the solution were used in spraying each tree, and if the whole of this had 
gone on the ground it would have amounted to about 7 pounds of ni¬ 
trate of soda per tree. The single tree in 1912 that had the 50 pounds of 
nitrate applied to the soil therefore received over seven times the total 
quantity applied to any single sprayed tree. As has been previously 
stated, this single, excessively fertilized tree bloomed no earlier than 
normal, produced no increased crop, and showed no improvement in 
general vigor and appearance; whereas, none of the trees in the sprayed 
plat failed to respond in all of these particulars. Of course, this single tree 
test in the application of nitrate to the soil is too small an experi¬ 
ment to permit concluding positively that the effects that we have 
reported from the spraying experiments are of an entirely different nature 
and belong in a different category from those produced by the ordinary 
soil application of nitrate. A careful consideration of the results of 
ordinary orchard practice in fertilizing seems to make it plain that there 
is no similarity between them and the results from spraying. For 
instance, in the usual practice of applying nitrate of soda as a fertilizer to 
apple orchards in the region of Watsonville, Cal., a winter or early spring 
application does not force the bloom out 10 days or 2 weeks ahead of the 
normal opening period and has had no measurable effect in increasing 
the set of fruit that same year. The fact that the addition of caustic 
soda or oxalic acid to the nitrate spray augments these various effects 
further emphasizes the difference between the results from spraying and 
the ordinary results from the application of fertilizer. Caustic-soda 
solution alone applied as a spray has no effect on the time of blooming or 
the crop production. 
