FORTY-FOURTH ANNUAL REPORT. 101 



what this destrnrtion means to the American Fniit Grower, In former 

 Years in the English market news it can be seen that America received 

 her greatest competition from the above named countries. At. the end 

 of the war, and possibly before, a great portion of these orchards will be 

 destroyed. Tims a great deal of this foreign competition will be elimin- 

 ated, and onr fruit will be in much greater demand, not only in Eng- 

 land, but in these other countries who before produced their own fruit. 

 Thus we see the great possibilities of American fruit abroad. 



Now let us consider what this means to the Horticulturists here in the 

 state of INIichigan. For every bbl. of apples that is shi])ped out of this 

 country, whether from New York or from San Fransisco, there will be 

 just that much greater demand for the a]>ples that are left, and as a re- 

 sult a higher price will be ])aid for them. Remend)er that only the high 

 grade fruit is exported, and thus the high grade fruit left here will be 

 the most effected. Then with the ever increasing export influencing the 

 price paid for the high quality apples produced in this country, I need 

 sav nothing further to show vou here this afternoon what this means to 

 Michigan where the highest quality apples in this country are produced. 



HOW FIRE BLIGHT WORKS 



t 



BY H. P. HENRY^ GRAND RAPIDS, MICH. 



Fire Blight was known 5000 years ago in China. It was also known 

 centuries ago in Germany. Many theories have been given in the past as 

 to the cause of this disease. One of the favorite and quite modem theo- 

 ries is that it was caused by a boring insect called Siolytus which poison- 

 ed the tree where ever it bored. The most popular theory was that it 

 was caused by an early winter freezing the uuripened tender wood. This 

 turned the sap into a poison which killed the branches in the spring 

 when the tree began to grow and the sap to flow. It was at that time 

 recommended that orchards be grown upon poorer soils so that the tree 

 would g-et a chance to mature its wood by fall. Root pruning was sug- 

 gested for orchards on rich lands. 



With the invention of the modern microscope it was seen that Fire 

 Blight was caused by a germ. This germ was separated from the sap 

 and placed in cuts in healthy treesi and the disease was produced, thus 

 ])roving that it was caused by a germ. This germ was named Bacillus 

 amylorous. 



Fire Blight is usually confined to the tender twigs and leaves. A water 

 soaked area is first noticed, the leaves become dark in color, and later 

 the water soaked area on the bark dries up forming a canker. The leaves 

 hanging on and the branch or twig looks as though it had been scorched 

 by fire. Frequently a branch also dies due to the girdling by a canker of 

 this disease. Signs of this germ have been found at two feet below the 

 canker, thus making it difficult to remove all the disease by pruning. If 

 water sprouts are allowed to grow in the orchard they are a very serious 

 source of danger as the blight is especially fond of them and quickly runs 



