Florida and California Laboratorils 257 



... as " bad luck " would have it, the disease did not develop in my 

 sprayed orchard this year, aUhout;h last year it stripped 40 acres of these 

 trees of all the leaves and fruit. Many of my experiments in other parts — • 

 where the curl developed — are coming out all rii^ht, but none of them will 

 compare with what my own would have been had the disease developed. 

 I have concluded not to publish but to give the work another year, and 

 within the past week I have made arrangements to repeat the spray work 

 on the same trees I Iiad last winter — the Hatch and Rock orchard at Biggs, 

 California, where there are 1600 acres of trees and where trees five years 

 old are so large that you cannot see between the rows although the trees 

 are set 25 feet apart! The orchard is by far the most beautiful sight I ever 

 saw, of its kind. 



There are three o/:her fungous diseases in this orchard — a root fungus; 

 a shot hole fungus of leaf, stem and fruit; and a mildew of stem, leaf and 

 fruit. They are all serious diseases when developing under favorable 

 conditions. I have material for future study as well as good illustrations 

 of the work done by them. The root fungus is very common in California 

 and is causing much loss. The mycelium is like that of Agaricus nielleus, 

 but as yet I have been unable to determine if it be of that parasite, and 

 there are some good reasons for thinking, in fact, that it is of another 

 species and perhaps genus. It is destroying acres of fruit trees of various 

 kinds, and I am now trying to learn if there are any kinds which are 

 exempt — any root which may be grafted upon and prove resistant. The 

 other diseases will probably have to be handled with sulphur and copper. 



I have seen an apple disease from Oregon which I believe does not 

 exist in the east. It is a scab quite unlike that we are acquainted with. 

 Then there is a disease of peach and apple trees which induces a sore-like 

 appearance, and the cause of which is not well understood if known at 

 all. Another disease affects the cherry when packed, and one in eastern 

 Washington is said to be bacterial in nature. This I hope to see. 



On November 8 of that year, Galloway reported to Secretary 

 Morton, 



It has been found that peach leaf curl, a disease which annually causes 

 many thousands of dollars damage to the entire country, may be almost 

 completely held in check by a simple and inexpensive winter or early 

 spring treatment. To test this remedy experiments were made at a number 

 of points on the Pacific Coast, as well as in the eastern part of the United 

 States, during the year. In all sections where the curl prevailed, the 

 treatment was highly successful. 



Pierce was not without a bacterial disease of plants to study. 

 From Santa Ana, California, on January 19, 1896, he told Smith: 



For spring work I have to plan and conduct a series of spraying experi- 

 ments on a disease of walnuts which is beginning to do considerable injury 



