154 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



the principal ones are dry. hot weather, attacks of borers, overbearing 

 lack of plant food, etc. 



Under the name of "little peach" the author describes a disease 

 which apparently is of unknown cause. The unhealthy trees were 

 found on all kinds of soil, and as a rule but few trees scattered through 

 an orchard were attacked. The diseased trees live for a number of 

 years and in some cases make a partial recovery. The author has been 

 unable to identify any fungus or bacteria with the disease, nor is he 

 able to ascribe it to any positive cause. He thinks possibly cold 

 weather in the fall or spring, following a season in which growth was 

 continued late into the autumn, may bring about this trouble. An 

 opportunity was offered in the spring of 1896 to test this theory. 

 Some of the diseased trees examined showed an abnormal growth of 

 wood for the season of 1893. Directions were given that these trees 

 be cut back so as to remove the wood that had apparently been injured 

 and thus form a new head from shoots that would be sent out below. 

 Three trees which the owner thought "would die anyway" were thus 

 pruned. They formed good heads during the summer and the follow- 

 ing fall they were apparently the healthiest trees in the orchard. In 

 other cases where the pruning was not sufficient to remove the injured 

 wood "the benefits of the heading back were quite marked, but as the 

 new shoots had to draw their nourishment through the injured tissue 

 the results were less marked." The author states that in the case of 

 4-year-old trees under high cultivation the injury seemed to be about 

 overcome in two years. A number of experiments have been under- 

 taken with commercial fertilizers and it is said that in every case 

 benefits can be seen from their use. 



Brief notes are given on the occurrence of root galls on peaches, the 

 galls being attributed to various causes, and, since such affected stock 

 is worthless, the author advises against planting it. 



Attention is called to the exudation of gum from the tissues of peach 

 trees that have been injured by brown rot or other causes. Where 

 patches of gum are numerous or large, it is recommended that the 

 branches be cut off below the spots and proper attention given the 

 trees to develop new shoots and ripen their wood. 



The grain smuts: How they are caused and how to prevent 

 them, W. T. Swingle ( V. IS. Dept. Agr., Farmers' Bui. 75, pp. 20, 

 fiijs. 8). — The substance of this bulletin has already appeared as Farm- 

 ers' Bulletin 5 and in an article by the author in the Yearbook of this 

 Department for 1894. The different smuts of grain are described and 

 various treatments suggested for their prevention. A new fungicide 

 for the prevention of oat smut is mentioned which, as the author says, 

 has not yet been extensively tested for smuts, but it is thought it will 

 prove effective. This fungicide, to which the name "Sar" solution has 

 been given, consists of a mixture of flowers of sulphur, resin, caustic 

 soda, and water. The formula given produces a sticky solution which 



