74 
FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
placed' the poisonous salts by nutritive 
ones and obtained interesting results in 
improving the 'condition of the trees. He 
had best results from dry fertilizer salts 
in holes 1-2 inch diameter, 1 inch deep 
covered with land plaster. The dry salts 
diffused through the trees in different 
wavs not only along vertical lines but 
some times in spirals. 
I. J. Sheviryev, (E. S. R. XVI, Decem¬ 
ber, ’04. 383) reports 10 years experi¬ 
ments in artificial nutrition of diseased 
trees, protecting from insects without kill¬ 
ing the trees. According to the author the 
investigations are based on the following 
facts: After the spring movement of the 
sap when the pressure inside the vessels is 
greater than that of the atmosphere, 
there follows in summer and fall a pe¬ 
riod of negative pressure. If the vessels 
at this time are brought into' communica¬ 
tion with the liquid, the latter enters and 
fills them under the pressure of the out¬ 
side air. For the successful introduction 
of liquids into the vessels of the tree it 
was found necessary to prevent the en¬ 
trance of air. The author attributes the 
failure of many experiments in impreg¬ 
nating live trees with solutions to the dis¬ 
regarding of this fact. In order to ex¬ 
clude the air the vessels are opened under 
a layer of liquid. For this purpose, if the 
trees do not exceed 31-2 inches in diam¬ 
eter their trunks are surrounded by a 
feeding funnel of aluminum fastened to 
the tree by means of cement. 
For larger trees only portions of fun¬ 
nels are fastened to the trunk. After the 
funnel is fixed in place the solution is 
poured in and a cut made below the level 
of the liquid through the thickness of the 
bark and part of the sap wood. The liquid 
at once begins to be sucked in and to' dif¬ 
fuse above and below the cut, a mariotte 
vessel provides for the automatic replen¬ 
ishing of the liquid as it is absorbed. The 
absorption of the liquid continues at the 
initial velocity for some time after which 
it slackens, being influenced by climate, 
season of the year and state of the weath¬ 
er. The absorption takes place more rap¬ 
idly in dry air at high temperatures and in 
strong sunlight. 
The absorption continues for about 5 
days, and the immediate cause of its ces¬ 
sation seems to be the choking up of the 
vessels through which the liquid enters 
the tree. This is shown by the vigorous 
renewal of absorption through new cuts 
made in the tree. 
In an experiment on an oak tree 7 
inches in diameter, 11.37 gallons of liquid 
was absorbed by the tree in 53 hours. 
Experiments with a number of solu¬ 
tions colored with eosin or methyl blue, 
showed that liquids diffuse both upward 
and downward, and also' horizontally. The 
diffusion in a horizontal direction seems 
to be along the rays, as the heartwood 
does not become colored. The colored 
liquid has been traced to the smallest 
branches and also to the leaves, and in 
the experiment with grapevines into the 
berries themselves. The diffusion into 
the roots does not seem as uniform as 
through the sapwood of the trunk. 
The author has not made much 
progress in finding substances which may 
be introduced in sufficient quantity to be 
destructive to parasites without being in¬ 
jurious to the plant but expects interest¬ 
ing results from experiments with certain 
barium compounds with which he is ex¬ 
perimenting. I give the report of these ex- 
