98 
THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
in rcjjcird lo advertising tliat would not be true undei 
some eondilions. I here is no more illusive subject in 
existence. It is like lishing, done on a big scale by 
those N\ ho make a study ol it, it can be made to pay big 
but for the dillettante or amateur, there are enough suc¬ 
cesses to make you keep on trying for the big catch. 
The trouble is, it is so expensive at the end of the year, 
it is up to the nurseryman to decide whether to put the 
balance of his credit at the bank in advertising, stock or 
those improvements he has been liguring on so long or 
divide it among them. 
It is useless to put it in stock and improvements unless 
the business shows a healthy growth so he goes fishing 
again, changes the bait and stream maybe, but it is taking 
the same sporting chance and perhaps just a little more 
chance than it should be. In the future no doubt adver¬ 
tising knowledge will be organized and become a science. 
It is not that, at least not an exact one, nor will it be 
until the advertising man can present the nurserymau’s 
goods as clearly, and as lucidly and as winningly as the 
dry goods store does its linery to the ladies. 
The average woman would understand an advertise¬ 
ment otfering Crepe de Chine or camisoles, and the aver¬ 
age man would not. It is just as true that a great ma¬ 
jority of men and women do not understand the nursery¬ 
men’s advertisements. 
NOTES FROM THE EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD 
Fruit nutrition studies in charge of J. C. Whitten and 
C. il. Wiggans were conducted with strawberries, 
peaches, and apples during the year at the Missouri Ex¬ 
periment Station. The work with strawberries was con- 
tined to the use of fertilizers containing phosphorus, since 
previous results from the use of potassium and nitrogen 
were negative. Acid phosphate applied directly to the 
row, either the current year or the previous year, caused 
a marked increase in yield, while bone meal even at the 
end of the second year caused no increase. The question 
has been raised as to whether or not the elTect of the acid 
phosphate may not be wholly or in part due to the acid 
condition possibly resulting from its application rather 
than to the phosphorus it contains. Studies are to be con¬ 
ducted along this line. 
In the nutrition experiments with peaches the trees re¬ 
ceiving nitrogen over a period of years are markedly lar¬ 
ger, more vigorous, and carry a greener foliage than those 
receiving no nitrogen. Also by far the greater effect in 
increasing yield has been shown on the nitrogen plants. 
During the last year the fruits on the trees fertilized with 
nitrogen were noticeably smaller in size, but not suf¬ 
ficiently so to injure the market quality, the larger num¬ 
ber of peaches more than offsetting the reduction in size. 
The peaches seemed firmer and in better condition for 
long shipment. 
The work with apples continued to show the superior¬ 
ity of nitrogen fertilizers on young trees, although the 
tn*es fertilized with nitrogen were more subject to blight. 
Rlight w as also found to be tw ice as i)revalent on trees 
w here cowpeas were grown and turned under the pre¬ 
vious year as on plats w here the trees were in timothy or 
alfalfa sod. Hence, it is concluded that where blight is 
destructive growers should use discretion in applying ni¬ 
trogen fertilizer or in turning under leguminous crops. 
The results secured wdth fertilizers on older apple trees 
indicate in brief that the addition of fertilizer may or may 
not be profitable, depending on conditions in the indiv¬ 
idual orchard. 
Among other investigations w ith fruits being conducted 
by J. G. Whitten work in breeding apples for late bloom¬ 
ing habit w^as started. Planting tests of hardy fruit 
trees, such as the apple and pear, continued to show that 
fall planting causes uniformly much stronger growth 
than spring planting. During the last year late fall plant¬ 
ing gave better results than early fall planting and late 
spring planting gave better results than early spring 
planting. The sour cherry profits more by fall planting, 
as compared with spring planting, than any other species 
that has been tested. The past year’s results showed that 
approximately two-thirds of the spring-planted cherry 
trees died, while there was no loss among those planted 
in the fall. The surviving spring-planted trees made 25 
per cent, as much growth as the fall-planted trees. 
Based on the yields secured from four crops, Ren Davis 
apple trees grown from fruit buds selected from a pro¬ 
ductive parent have shown no superiority over those 
selected from an unproductive parent. A similar experi¬ 
ment in strawberry selection (E. S. R., 33, p. 236) cover¬ 
ing a period of 10 years and now completed also gave 
negative results. 
Self-fertility studies of fruits by J. G. Whitten and G. 
G. Wiggans confirm the previous assumption that certain 
commercial varieties of apples have a tendency to self- 
fertility. Varieties such as Delicious, Ingram, Ben Davis, 
Gano, and York appear to be capable of fertilizing their 
own flowers when planted in large blocks. 
Observations made on fruit trees in connection with til¬ 
lage studies by J. G. Whitten and G. G. Wiggans indicate 
that the formation of fruit buds is induced by highly con¬ 
centrated sap and wood growth, and lack of fruitfulness 
is indicated by less concentrated sap. In the tillage 
studies the tree sap w^as found to be more concentrated in 
orchards where cultivation is not extensive and where 
apparently greater competition with sod crops exists. Sap 
studies are to be conducted for a number of years with 
the view of determining a possible correlation between 
sap concentration and tillage methods. 
The studies of fruit-bud development of trees as in¬ 
fluenced by treatments and previous crops, conducted by 
G. G. Wiggans, confirm the conclusion previously drawn 
that only a small percentage of the spurs blossoms twm 
years in successioji and even a smaller percentage ma¬ 
tures fruit two years in succession. It was found in 
every case where tests were made that the concentration 
of-cortex sap from bearing spurs was greater than that 
from non-bearing spurs, if the determination was made 
during or soon after the fruiting season. Leaf sap from 
nonbearing spurs shows a higher concentration than leaf 
saj) from bearing spurs. The high concentration of cor¬ 
tex sap from bearing spurs appears to exist only while 
the spur has fruit on it. Later the bearing spur comes 
back to normal concentration. So far as obseiwed, there 
is no co-relation between the number of leaves on a spur 
and its fruit development. Spurs bearing two or more 
