128 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



between the plants, and their results were quite satisfactory, as besides 

 acting as a cover crop and furnishing humus to the soil, this crop is of 

 value for these fruits, as it takes up the surplus water from the soil and 

 aids in ripening the plants in the fall. In some cases, oats have been tried 

 as a cover crop for strawberries as a substitute for the winter mulch, but 

 the results have been less satisfactory. If sown early enough to reach a 

 size that would make an effective mulch, the growth of the strawberry 

 plants is checked and the crowns produced are less strong than where 

 oats are not used. On moist, rich soil, their use will frequently be 

 advisable, except in such parts of the State as have so mild a climate that 

 they would not be destroyed during the winter. 



INSECTS AND DISEASES. 



During the year numerous letters have been received from fruit grow- 

 ers and others, in various parts of the State, asking regarding the nature 

 of insects and diseases with which their crops have been troubled, and 

 for effectual remedies against them. Although it has been confined 

 within narrow limits, the disease that has attracted most attention and 

 has seemed most destructive is the one that has been known as "little 

 peach," which has been referred to in several previous reports. While it 

 is still principally confined within two or three counties along the lake 

 shore, its spread has been quite rapid, as, in several of the townships, 

 thousands of trees have been destroyed. It is by most persons thought 

 to be contagious and to be a disease that should be feared more than 

 peach yellows. During the month of October Dr. Erwin F. Smith, of 

 the National Department of Agriculture, the well-known expert in peach 

 diseases, spent several weeks studying the disease in the orchards in the 

 vicinity of Fennville and Saugatuck. He was soon convinced that it was 

 entirely distinct from either yellows or rosette, but was unable to deter- 

 mine its exact nature. During the coming season we hope to be able 

 to continue the work of testing remedies for the prevention and cure of 

 this disease. 



Many reports have been received of the injury from yellows, but in very 

 few cases has the damage been severe in townships where attention is 

 paid to the enforcement of the yellows law. In sections where the 

 peach industry has been carried on extensively for a number of years, 

 growers are well aware of the nature of this disease and of the impor- 

 tance of immediately destroying trees in which it has developed; but 

 where the peach industry is a side issue, less attention is paid to it, and 

 the disease has destroyed manv trees. 



IRRIGATION. 



The rainfall during the past season has been so distributed that there 

 hns been but little occasion for relying upon an artificial supply of water, 

 and it was not possible to carry on any definite experimental work. The 

 use of water, however, upon the strawberries materially increased the 

 yield and prolonged the season, and it also gave good results when applied 

 upon the various late vegetable crops. As reported last year, however, 

 the particular use of the irrigating plant has been for supplying water for 



