New York Agricultural Experiment Station. 133 



rants in tlie Hudson valley in the autumn of 1900. In a planta- 

 tion at Rochester we found a few currant bushes quite severely 

 attacked by G. rihis, August 30, 1900; but this was the only case 

 of the disease observed in western New York last year. The 

 season was an excessively dry one. 



During the past season currant anthracnose became epidemic 

 in the Hudson valley about June 8. By June 13 many leaves 

 were falling and it was already evident that the crop would be 

 considerably injured. In some plantations one-half the foliage 

 was gone by June 26 and by July 10 the bushes were completely 

 defoliated except for small tufts of leaves at the tips of some of 

 the canes. The fruit commenced to ripen about June 26 and by 

 July 10 the harvest was in progress. About July 1 there was a 

 week of excessive heat with a clear sky. As a result, currants 

 throughout the Hudson Valley suffered severely from sunscald. 

 Most of the leaves having fallen, the fruit was left exposed to the 

 direct rays of the sun. However, it is likely that the injury 

 was not all due to exposure to the sun. Some of it was prob- 

 ably due to the inability of the defoliated canes to supply the ber- 

 ries with water notwithstanding the fact that the soil was filled 

 with water owing to frequent showers. The loss from sunscald 

 and shriveling of the berries was enormous. Mr. Hepworth has. 

 18 acres of currants from which he sold, in 1900, 50,000 quarts of 

 fruit. In 1901 the same plantation yielded only 26,000 quarts. 

 This loss of nearly one-half the crop Mr. HepAvorth attributes to 

 the effect of anthracnose and the accompanying sunscald. In the 

 five-acre plantation mentioned in the introduction to this bulletin 

 the loss was estimated to be about two-thirds of the crop. The 

 fruit set as well in 1901 as in 1900 and there was no other disease 

 besides anthracnose except cane blight, which was no more 

 destructive in 1901 than in 1900. Therefore, had it not been for 

 the anthracnose the crop of 1901 would probably have been as 

 large as that of 1900. Moreover, the loss on the present season's 

 fruit crop is not all. The dropping of the leaves so early in the 

 season must seriously interfere with the proper ripening of the 



