Proceedings of Seventeenth Formal Institute 261 



the leaves have dropped and before the buds have started in the 

 spring, although, of course, no applications should be made dur- 

 ing freezing weather. 



This is welcome news to the peach grower as it will enable 

 him to relieve the pressure of spring work by disposing of some 

 of it during the fall or winter. It also gives him an opportunity 

 to spray when the ground is solid enough to hold up while driv- 

 ing over it with a heavv machine. 



PEAR BLIGHT 



There is nothing new of practical value to present about this 

 disease. ^N^o new varieties of economic importance have been 

 discovered to be resistant to the disease, nor has any method of 

 preventing the blight by injecting chemical substances or viruses 

 into the tree been devised. The same methods of control as have 

 been advocated in the past are recommended today. These 

 methods, if carefully carried out, will keep the disease in check, 

 but will not prevent new infections from taking place. The 

 secret of success in the control of fire blight consists in the clean- 

 ing out of hold-over cankers and twigs, in the removal of new in- 

 fections as soon as they are observed, and in the disinfection of 

 wounds. Most growers are not prepared to do this and, there- 

 fore, do not succeed in the attempts they make. This method 

 can most effectively be applied by one familiar with the details of 

 the work. 'Large growers or a group of smaller ones could 

 profitably employ such a man to fight fire blight for them. 



OAT SMUT 



Many thousands of dollars were saved to farmers of the state 

 this year by their treating oat seed with formaldehyde solution, 

 yet only a small fraction of the oat seed used was treated. In 

 every community oat smut was much in evidence and in some 

 fields the loss amounted to one-half of the crop. With the 

 knowledge of control at everyone's command there should be no 

 loss from this disease. 



A few farmers who treated their seed this year reported a 

 partial failure inasmuch as there was some smut found in their 

 grain. Failures of this kind may result from using a solution 



