340 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



that what would otherwise be profitable varieties have been quite generally 

 discarded. The disease first shows itself upon the leaves as purplish spots, 

 these enlarge and, the center tissues being destroyed, they change to a 

 yellowish white color. The spots are often so numerous as to destroy the 

 leaves. The fungus also works upon, and does most injury to, the flower 

 or fruit-stalks, as very snjall spots, especially upon the pedicels will serve 

 to girdle them and thus cut off the supply of food. As a result, the berries 

 wither and dry up. The disease is generally most troublesome upon old 

 varieties and in plantations from which one or more crops of fruit have 

 been taken; a dry soil and a dry season also seem to increase its effect. 



While much can be done by selecting varieties as little as possible sub- 

 ject to scab, using plants from young plantations only, planting upon rich 

 and fairly moist soil and conserving the moisture so far as possible by 

 heavy mulching, or frequent shallow cultivation, it will generally pay the 

 commercial grower, in localities where the rust is troublesome, to make 

 use of fungicides, for the destruction of the spores of the disease, as it is 

 now known that they are entirely efficient. 



The best preparation is Bordeaux mixture prepared in the usual way, 

 using 3 pounds of copper sulphate, 3 pounds of fresh lime, and 32 gallons 

 of water. (If leaf-eating insects are present it will be of advantage to add 

 2 ounces of Paris green for their destruction.) A bearing plantation 

 should be sprayed after the flower-stalks have developed and just before 

 the blossoms open. This will serve to protect the fruit-stalks and will 

 hold- in check the rust upon the leaves. The young plantations should be 

 sprayed at the same time. This will suffice for them until July, when they 

 should receive a second and final application, but the bearing plants, if the 

 disease is particularly destructive, will be benefited by an intermediate 

 application soon after the fruit has set. Care should be taken not to apply 

 Bordeaux mixture to strawberries, or other fruits, within three weeks of 

 the time they are to be gathered, as the lime will spot the fruit and, 

 although there may not be enough of the copper to furnish a fatal dose, it 

 is not a desirable thing to take into the stomach. 



RASPBERRIES. 



The plants were set eight by three and one half feet, and from four to six 

 stems were left in a hill. In June, as the young canes developed, the 

 tips were pinched off to induce them to send out side branches. After the 

 danger of freezing weather was over in the spring, the side shoots were cut 

 back to lengths of from six to ten inches. 



