THE MONTHLY BULLETHST. 373 



purpose in the experience of the writer is a liquid wax that may be put 

 on cold with a paint brush. The formula is as follows : 



Tree Wax. 



1 pound resin. 



2 ounces tallow. 

 6 ounces alcohol. 



1 ounce spirits turpentine. 



Heat the resin and tallow together, cool down somewhat and pour in 

 alcohol slowly while stirring. Last stir in the turpentine. Use care not 

 to get more turpentine than the formula calls for. 



White paint and tar are often used with good success, but injury is 

 sometimes experienced with some kinds of paints and with coal-tar. 



Protection of cuts or injuries, the writer believes, should be begun in 



the nursery when fruit trees are first cut off, after the buds start to 



grow. It is probable that many nursery trees are handicapped from the 



start by allowing the bud to grow around a cut surface that has begun 



to decay. 



Prevention of Root Rot Fungus. 



Very different methods from that first described are to be used in the 

 prevention of root rot or oak root fungus (Armillaria mellea) . This 

 fungus lives on roots or pieces of wood in the soil and its prevention lies 

 is getting out all roots or pieces of wood when the land is being cleared 

 of infected oaks, sycamores or other trees, and, if possible, raising 

 annual crops on this soil, plowing it deep for a year or two before 

 planting to fruit trees. In cases of orchards already infected only in 

 certain areas or spots, the means suggested for preventing its spread is 

 to quarantine or isolate these areas either by rooting out trees all along 

 the edge of the infected area or by digging a trench about it and lining 

 the sides with tarred paper. This tarred paper, the upper edge of 

 which may be placed low enough to allow for cultivating and irrigating 

 over its top, is to keep the roots of an infected tree from communicating 

 the disease to a healthy one. 



The rate of travel of the fungus on the roots of orange trees is from 

 a half a tree to one tree per year in any one direction. For other fruit 

 trees the rate of travel may sometimes be greater, depending on the kind 

 of tree and possibly on the nature of the soil. Figs and pears and pos- 

 sibly some varieties of cherries and the native black walnut are the only 

 fruit trees known to be practically resistant to its attack. 



Prevention of Peach Blight and Leaf Curl. 



A preventive method entirely different from either of the two 

 previously mentioned cases must be used for peach blight {Coryneum 

 heyerinkii) and peach leaf curl (Exoascus deformans). In this case 

 prevention is obtained by covering the surface of the twigs with a 

 fungicide before the spores germinate or before the fungus-filaments 

 liave time to penetrate the surface. If one could always tell just when 

 the fall rains would begin or what the weather conditions would be, one 



