12S STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



REPORT OF THE STATE INSPECTOR OF ORCHARDS AND 



NURSERIES 



To the State Board of Agriculture. 



Gentlemen — In .some respects the work of this department has l)een 

 simplified, as compared with past years, by the fact that orchard in- 

 sects and diseases have been less troublesome than usual. This has 

 been due in part to the fact that owing to the severe winter of 1917-18 

 a very large proportion of the peach trees have been removed, which 

 has lessened the nundjer of cases of yellows and little peach. The same and 

 other causes have lessened the ravages of the San Jose scale. In this case, 

 however, not only have the host trees been destroyed, but the number of 

 the insects have been reduced in part by the severity of the winter, and 

 also by various parasites and by the unfavorable weather during the sum- 

 mer of 1917. 



ORCHARD INSPECTION WORK. 



The high prices obtained for the various fruits, as well as from the fact 

 that the lessening of the number of the San Jose scale made them more 

 hopeful of success, has led to increased attention to the orchards and 

 greater interest in spraying. In many sections there are abandoned or- 

 (;hards in the neighborhood of young and healthy orchards, and since 

 these orchards are generally infested with various dangerous insects and 

 diseases we have had frequent calls to have the trees either destroyed or 

 given proper attention. 



WHITE PINE BLISTER RUST CONTROL. 



The cooperative agreement with the Federal Department of Agriculture 

 relating to the scouting for trees infected with the White Pine Blister Rust 

 has been continued. 



During July, August and September," a half dozen or more inspectors 

 under the direction of and paid by the Department of Agriculture, covered 

 a considerable portion of the State, especially along the eastern and 

 western sides, but were not able to find any indication of the presence of the 

 disease, either in five-leafed pines, currants or gooseberries. 



Early in April, 1919, the work was again taken up, and within a few 

 days the disease was found in a white pine in Oakland County Avhich 

 had been purchased several years ago from one of the nurseries in which 

 the disease was found in 1918. Fortunately the disease had not developed 

 spores and it is hardly likely that is has spread to any of the Ribes in the 

 vicinity. Thus far the blister rust has only been found in two nurseries 

 in Oakland county, and in trees on two places which had been sold by 

 one of these nurseries. Careful examination of the ribes in the vicinity 

 of where the infected trees were found has failed to show any indication 

 that the diease had spread from the infected pines. 



At this time the blister rust has spread over the greater part of New 

 England, and through the eastern and northern portions of New York, 

 and has obtained a good foothold in Wisconsin and Minnesota, besides 

 having been found in southeastern Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Ohio. 

 It is fortunate for the forest and fruit interests of Michigan, as well as for 

 the nurseries, that the Federal government was so prompt in starting eradi- 

 cation measures. 



