198 Report of tiik Botanist of the 



The fimgiis probably had nothing to do with the death of the 

 trees. It is mentioned here because it is a conspicuous thing 

 which might be mistaken for a parasite. 



WINTER INJURY. 



At Athens, Greene Co., three cherry trees 15 years old died 

 mysteriously. They had been very thrifty, but last spring when 

 the leaves were partly gTo\\ai the trees suddenly died. They grew 

 in a slight depression where water stands in wet seasons. It is 

 likely that the trees' went into the imusually severe printer of 

 1898-9 with "wet feet" and were winter killed. This theory is 

 supported by the fact that another tree of the same age and 

 variety standing only about 16 feet away but outside of the depres- 

 Bion was not affected. Some pear trees standing within the depres- 

 sion and close beside the dead cherry trees were not killed. 



Another case of what we consider to be winter injury occurred 

 at Monsey in Rockland Co. Some cherry trees which had been 

 planted in the spring of 1898 and made a vigorous growth that 

 season were found badly injured in the spring of 1899. A few of 

 the trees were killed outright, but with a majority of them only 

 the branches were killed back for a distance of from 12 to 24 

 inches from the tips. The affected portions did not put out leaves. 

 Trees standing in exposed situations suffered most. The owner 

 thought that the injury might have been caused by bands of 

 tarred paper which had been placed about the bases of the trunks 

 to protect them from mice; but this theory is made untenable by 

 the observation that the bark under the tarred paper bands was 

 perfectly healthy. 



Some other cases of the unaccountable dying of branches in 

 cherry trees may also be due to winter injury. 



A BRANCH PARASITE. 



(PoJyporus sulphureus (Bull.) Fr.) 

 On a cherry tree in Greene Co., five pilei of this fungus were 

 found on the uninjured bark of a large limb which was rapidly 

 dying. The fungus was apparently parasitic. 



