40 
Colorado Experiment Station 
Fife, illustrates the importance of this point. We had a shower on 
the 28th July, which was of very short duration, but violent. The 
Fife and Defiance were planted on the same day and on contiguous 
plots of ground. The Fife matures about eight or ten days earlier 
than the Defiance. This shower did not appear to affect the Fife in 
the least, while it very severely injured the Defiance by inducing a 
strong development of rust, and inducing premature ripening. The 
difference in the results was apparently wholly due to the difference 
in the development of the respective varieties. The Defiance was 
still in a stage sensitive to this fungus, while the Fife probably es¬ 
caped injury because of its advanced development. Perhaps some 
allowance should be made for the different powers of resistance to 
this fungus possessed- by these different varieties. The principal 
cause of difference, however, is doubtlessly to be found in the differ-* 
ent degrees of maturity at the time of the rain. The data relative 
to the nitrogen tabulated above will serve to show the same, espe¬ 
cially in regard to the stage of development. 
This study of the nitrogen in the plant from the time of bloom 
to maturity exhibits the answer to our main thesis, i. e., that the 
nitrogen content of the plant is materially affected by the fertilizers 
used. 
The plan of experimentation was as follows: Three sections 
of land, lying side by side and uniform in quality, were divided into 
equal plots and four plots in each section were sown to one variety 
of wheat. In our nitrogen work on the plant we have used Red Fife 
only. The plots in one section received the maximum amount of 
the respective fertilizers, those of the next section received the 
medium amounts and those of the third section received the mini¬ 
mum amounts. Our results would have been more valuable had we 
been able to sample the whole twelve plots at the same time, but we 
could not do this and our results are faulty insofar as we cannot 
eliminate the changes which took place between the dates on which 
the different samples were taken. For instance, two members of a 
set were taken on 7 July and the third one was taken six days later, 
13 July. These samples are not, strictly speaking, comparable. 
Still the effects of the fertilizers on the nitrogen content of the 
plant and the various forms of it determined are very clear. 
Every fourth plot throughout the series was a check plot, and 
it is the products of these plots that constitute the bases of our com¬ 
parisons. An examination of the results obtained with the stems 
and leaves shows: 
First, that phosphorus exercised but little influence upon the 
amount of nitrogen in these parts of the plant. This is essentially 
true of all the forms of nitrogen determined. 
