Fighting the Fungi in Their Winter Quarters. 



393 



k 



Bordeaux of the formulae 8-12-50 to each 100 gallons of which add the 

 following sticker: two pounds resin, one pound sal soda (crystals), one 

 gallon water : boil until of a clear brown color. Open up the trees by prun- 

 ing to let in the light and air. Be careful not to bruise the limbs by climbing 

 about in the trees as this makes entrance places for the canker fungus. 

 (See N. Y. (Geneva) Bulletins 163 and 185, or Ann. Reports 1899 

 and 1900.) 



The Blight Canker. — This is a common canker of apple and pear 

 trees in many parts of the State. The blight cankers are caused by 

 the bacteria of Fire Blight and are but another form of that dreaded 

 disease. They usually appear on the body and main limbs of young 

 apple trees just coming into bearing. They usually appear about the 

 base of short spurs or water 

 sprouts which have been 

 blighted, the bacteria work- 

 ing their way down into the 

 bark of the limb. (See Fig. 

 366.) This canker diflFers 

 from the New York Apple 

 Tree Canker in appearance, 

 being smooth and sunken 

 with a distinct crack marking 

 its boundary. It is not black, 

 the diseased area being about 

 the color of the healthy bark. 

 It is in these cankers that the 

 bacteria are carried over 

 winter, especially those on the 

 pear tree. From these "hold 

 over " cankers as they are 

 called, the bacteria are carried 

 in the spriner to the blossoms 

 and twigs by bees, causing 

 blossom and twig blight. 

 Now is the time to tackle 

 this disease. Cut out and 

 treat the cankers as described 

 for the New York Apple 



Tree Canker above. Spraying the trees, after the cankers are removed 

 with lime or sulphur wash or strong, Bordeaux may also be of some 

 benefit. (See N. Y. (Cornell) Bulletin 236.) 



The Leaf Curl of Peach. — The curling of the leaves of the peach 

 trees shortly after they unfold in the spring is familiar to nearly every 



Fig. 366. — Early stage of New York Apple Tree 

 Canker showing the tiny black pimples or fruit 

 bodies of the fungus scattered over the surface. 



