i)-± REroRT OF State Board of Horticulture. 



A few words of explanation as to what is meant by a 

 fungus may serve to make my meaning clear to some fruit 

 growers who have given the matter little or no attention. 



WHAT IS A FUNGUS? 



A fungus is a plant as truly as is the apple tree, the prune 

 tree, the wheat plant, or any other plant upon which it may 

 be growing. In this particular case it is a very small — a 

 microscopic plant. 



Fungii differ from ordinary plants essentially in being 

 much more simple in structure, and in being devoid of chloro- 

 phyll — the green coloring matter of plants. The seeds, which 

 are called spores, are more simple and very much smaller 

 than the smallest seeds of common plants, and are produced 

 in almost inconceivably great numbers. The vegetative por- 

 tion of a fungus, the part which, in a sense, corresponds to 

 the roots, stems and leaves of ordinary plants, the part 

 which absorbs the food materials and builds them up into 

 new tissue and eventually produces the spores, consists of a 

 mass of more or less branched white or colorless and very 

 minute threads and is called the mycelium. 



The spores, being so small and light, are readily carried 

 long distances by the wind, are washed about by the rains 

 and may also be carried by birds and insects and probably 

 other agencies. It is one or more of these methods that 

 fungous diseases are spread from leaf to leaf, tree to tree, or 

 orchard to orchard. Over greater distances the spores may 

 be carried on shipments of infested nursery stock, fresh 

 fruits, vegetables, seeds, etc. 



Should a spore fall upon suitable soil, such as the surface 

 of leaf or fruit, and the conditions of heat and moisture be 

 favorable, it will germinate — push out a delicate, slender, 

 germ-tube or "rootlet." In the case of most parasitic fungii 

 this germ-tube soon penetrates the epidermis of the leaf or 

 fruit or bark, and the mycelium develops in the underlying 

 tissues entirely beyond the reach of fungicides. 



HOW THE ANTHRACNOSE FUNGUS SPREADS. 



If, now, one were to examine an anthracnosed spot, of the 

 current season's growth, one would observe that the bark is 



