20 REPORT OF STATE BOARD OF HORTICULTURE. 



NURSERIES. 



Several nurseries were in bad couditiou, being infested 

 with canker, scale and aphis. Some have been condemned 

 and cleaned by burning, and all diseased places have been 

 cleansed and put in good shape, and others have cleaned up 

 and retired from the business. 



The low price at which nursery stock had been selling 

 made the business unprofitable, and more than half of the 

 IDCople engaged in the work have retired during the past few 

 years . 



The past year has seen a very healthy revival of the nurs- 

 ery business, and good, clean stock, up to date in varieties, 

 has been in good demand at fair prices. Washington, Idaho, 

 Montana and California have been buying largely of Oregon 

 nurserymen during the past year, and some shipments have 

 been made to the Orient. 



APPLE CANKER. 



The worst difficulty found with nursery stock was that 

 much of it was infested with canker, without the knowledge 

 of the nurseryman. By tracing up the disease found in 

 many young orchards, it was discovered that many young 

 apple trees had become infested while in the nursery, some- 

 times coming from cuttings, but generally from cankered 

 trees in the vicinity of the nursery. As the spores are blown 

 about, and can be carried as far as half a mile, and perhaps 

 more, it is of the utmost importance that all old trees near to 

 nurseries should be carefully sprayed and the disease killed. 

 This disease has been widely distributed throughout the 

 state, and in all parts of Western Oregon its growth is so 

 rapid as to endanger the success of apple growing. It seems 

 to thrive equally well in all parts of Western Oregon, In 

 Eastern Oregon, in the dryer regions, it does not seem to be 

 so injurious ; but as it is found doing well in the vicinity of 

 the timber line of Eastern Washington there is danger of its 

 extending over Eastern Oregon. 



Prof. A. B. Cordley, of the Oregon Experiment Station, 

 has been doing some valuable w^ork for the state in connection 

 with this pest, and in his further researches wull no doubt 

 find an efficient method for mastering it. For the present the 

 most important work is to keep it out of the nursery stock. 



