I^EW York x\gricultural Experiment Station. 201 



investigating a currant cane blight having the same symptoms, in 

 Western New York. Upon tbe appearance of his bulletin^ in 

 which it was stated that Nectria cinnabarina Tode was the cause 

 of the disease, we concluded that the sterile fungiis observed by 

 Fairchild and bj us was probably only a saprophyte; but our 

 observations during the past season have convinced us that it is 

 really an active parasite. The disease occurs to a greater or less 

 extent throughout the entire Hudson Valley. In many planta- 

 tions it is veiy destructive. AVe have cut open and examined 

 several hundred, perhaps as many as a thousand, of the affected 

 canes, and almost invariably found the sterile fungus in the pith 

 and under the bark. Its presence can generally be determined 

 with the unaided eye and nearly always with the aid of a good 

 band lens. In a veiy few cases, perhaps half a dozen, we have 

 found borers ; but in no case have we found Nectria cinnabarina 

 either in its perithecial or conidial stage. The currant cane blight 

 occurring in the Hudson Valley is not caused by ISTectria cinna- 

 barina but by a sterile fungus.^^ 



"When a cane of the previous season's growth first shows wilting 

 of the leaves it appears normal externally. But on splitting an 

 affected stem there will usually be found a place near the base of 

 the affected portion, where the bark is dead and the wood and 

 pith dead and discolored for an inch or more. The presence of 

 the fungus is manifested by delicate cobwebby patches of hyphee 

 in the pith. This is the seat of the trouble, and from it as a center 

 the fungus spreads both ways; upward, so as to frequently 

 occupy the whole wilted branch, and downward so as to Idll suc- 

 cessively the lower branches of the cane. The disease seems to 

 strangle the canes near the point of infection, killing the portion 

 beyond by cutting off tine supply of sap. 



In canes of the present season's growth the fungus spreads 



20 A Disease of Current Canes. Cornell Exp. Sta. Bui. 125. F. 1897. 



21 Exact proof bj' inoculation experiments is lacking. But the large number 

 of cases in which the sterile fungus has been found associated with the dis- 

 ease is considered sufficient proof for this statement. 



