New York Agricultural Experiment Station. 189 



GRAPE DISEASES. 



Diseases in General. — Vineyards were remarkably free 

 from disease. Black rot {Lccstadia hiSwelUi) and downy mildew 

 (Plasmopara viticola) were destructive only in a few localities. 

 Powdery mildew [Vncinula necator) and anthracnose [Sphaceloma 

 ampeUnum) were rare. A few severe cases of " shelling " were 

 reported, but this trouble was not at all common. Black knot 

 (blacky warty enlargements of the stem due to frost injury) is less 

 common than we supposed. Occasional specimens may be found 

 in many vineyards, but it is rarely of suflScient abundance to cause 

 material loss. 



RussETED Fruit and Protruding Seeds. — In various localities 

 in Western New York the green grapes showed russet bands and 

 blotches which were only skin deep. Their appearance was very 

 suggestive of the russeting of apples and pears and we think it 

 due to the same cause, weather conditions, — probably a light 

 freeze after the fruit was set. On many of the russeted fruits 

 one or more seeds were exposed and sometimes prominently pro- 

 truded. In some cases seeds were exposed on fruits which were 

 not russeted. Nevertheless, we believe the russeting and expos- 

 ure of seeds both due to the same cause. 



PEACH DISEASES. 



Leap Curl {Exoascus deformans (Berk.) Fckl.). — Leaf curl has 

 done but little damage. A few correspondents report consider- 

 able loss from it, but in general it appeared only on particularly 

 susceptible varieties such as Elberta. 



It is now known that this destructive disease may be almost 

 wholly prevented by a single thorough spraying with Bordeaux 

 mixture in late winter or early spring hefwe the buds hreal-. 

 Applications made after the foliage has appeared have little or 

 no effect. By the time the leaf buds begin to show green it is 

 already too late to spray. At Williamson we saw an Elberta 

 orchard which had been well sprayed on April 30, at which time 

 some of the buds were breaking. Leaf curl was quite as bad on 



