134 NEBRASKA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



ance and salability, also injure the leaves of the tree. Many 

 of our fungous diseases like "apple scab'" or "skin blotch," 

 which attack the fruit and injure its market qualities, also 

 attack the leaves of the trees or their twigs. At times certain 

 fungi may do more damage to the tree direct than to the fruit 

 which is being produced by it. Perhaps a few specific ex- 

 amples may emphasize this point better than can be done in 

 any other way. In my own state during the past three 

 springs, for example, we have had prolonged cold, more or 

 less frosty weather during the blossoming period of our apple 

 trees. In sections of the state more or less blasting of the 

 flowers at this season has taken place, so that buds here and 

 there fail to set well. The almost unanimous verdict of the 

 orchardists has been that in sections where apples failed to 

 set, even though there was a full bloom, that the failure has 

 been due to the fact that the blossoms were killed by cold, 

 frosty weather. 



It is my opinion that the failure of apple blossoms to set 

 fruit, and the dropping of tliese small apples shortly after 

 they set has been due more largely to the presence of "apple 

 scab" in the orcliard than to cold weather. In one large or- 

 chard adjaceut to tlie experiment station, which is not 

 sprayed, the blossoms of the trees were found to be quite gen- 

 erally affected with "apple scab." The stem of the flower 

 or peduncle in many cases turned black, wilted, then with- 

 ered, and the flower f(41 because the parasitic fungi, "apple 

 scab," had a foothold in the flower cluster, and not directly 

 because the weatlier was cold enough to kill the blooms 

 through frost. Similar observation has been made in many 

 orchards in various sections of the state. This withering and 

 destruction of the blossoms after a cold night is now usually 

 thought by the orchardists to be due to the cold, when, how- 

 ever, the flower clusters are seen to be generally affected with 

 scab fungus; the leaves of the trees shrivel and are injured 

 greatly by this same fungus. The indication is that the fun- 

 gus disease has much to do with the killing of the flowers. 



