An investigation was made of transient processes occurring in the establishment of steady-state field-electron emission from germanium. These processes are due to the finite time needed for changes in the space-change region after the application of an electric field. A residual relaxation effect was observed. This effect occurred in fields corresponding to parts II and III of the current - voltage characteristic. The effect depended strongly on the anode voltage and on the magnitude and sign of a steady-state bias applied in advance of the pulses. The observations are explained by postulating charging of the trapping centers located in the space-charge region of the semiconductor field emitter.