— 52 



scab fungus is not a vital one. In the worst cases the vitality of 

 the trees maj r be checked for a year or two. As a rule, the effect 



of the leaf-blight, in Western 

 New York this year, will proba- 

 bly be to develop a large- crop 

 of fruit-buds. This often fol- 

 lows a checking of growth. A 

 heavy crop followed the failure 

 and blight of three or four years 

 ago. But if next spring should 

 be wet and cool, the fungus 

 would in all probability spread 

 again, as it has this year. At all 

 events, it is to be expected that 

 Fig. 5. — Quince Leaf-Blight. apples will be scabby, as they 

 have been in other years, and unless the weather is unusually fa- 

 vorable the fruit will be likely to suffer seriously. 



The last two seasons have demonstrated that carbonate of cop- 

 per is a sure remedy for the apple scab fungus. It is not yet fully 

 demonstrated just what are the best times to make the applica- 

 tion, but it is necessary to begin before the flowers open, and to 

 make from four to six applications between that time and the first 

 of August. Three applications at any rate should be made, — one 

 before the blossoms open, one just after they fall, and another 

 three or four weeks later. It is probable that some of the fungus 



sorbing the juices and dwarfing the fruits, and often occasioning the death 

 of the leaf wholly or in part, or causing it to become yellow and fall off. 



In all the specimens examined from New York the spores, — the repro- 

 ductive bodies, — have ranged from .015 to .020 millimeters in length, the 

 usual size in American specimens. 



In conclusion, it is clear that the failure of the apple crop in New York is 

 due to a far greater extent than usual (but probably not wholly) to the 

 attack of Fusicladium, the growth of which was greatly promoted at a 

 critical period of the apple's growth, by the wet, cool weather in which it 

 flourishes best. Whether the early falling of the flowers and young fruit 

 was due to this parasite or not, the flower-buds, before they burst in the 

 spring, should no doubt be sprayed with a strong fungicide, and followed by 

 a weaker solution when the fruit sets, and by successive applications once 

 in two or three weeks if wet weather makes it necessary. 



This fungus (or one considered by some as nearly related, but not iden- 

 tical,) attacks young, growing pears, making them one-sided and knotty, 

 and it is abundant this season on the fruits. Most of the black, corky 

 spots on pear leaves abundant last season and this, seem to be due pri- 

 marily to some other cause — a small gall-mite it is asserted. There are 

 only occasional bunches of the Fusicladium found in connection with 

 them. 



