DISEASES OF PLANTS. 459 



Cure for canker on apple trees, G. D. Huet {Agr. Gaz. New South Wales, 13 

 {1902), Xd. 6, p. 6'<S'o).— According to the author, the canker of apple trees may be 

 cured" by prunmg and painting over the affected portions of the limbs with hydro- 

 chloric acid. 



A new form of Fusicladium dendriticum, G. Scalia {Bol. Accad. Gioenia, 

 Catania, 70 {1901), pp. 1-5; abs. in Bot. Centbl., 89 {1902), No. 14, p. 398).— A new 

 form of Fusicladium on the Japanese loquat is described. It seems to have affinities 

 with the well known F. dendriticum, and the recently described F. eriobothryic, and 

 the name F. dendriticum eriobotrype japonicse, is given it. 



Black rot of oranges, N. B. Pierce {Bot. Gaz., 33 {1902), No. 3, pp. 234, 233). — 

 A fungus disease of navel oranges has attracted attention in some of the orange- 

 growing districts of California for the past 8 or 10 years. The losses occasioned by 

 the disease frequenth^ amount to as much as 3 to 10 per cent of the croji, and as the 

 cultivation of the navel variety is extensive the tot^l losses are proportionately heavy. 

 The oranges are attacked through the navel, the fungus entering the cracks or imjier- 

 fections of the peel in those parts. The cells of the pulp are destroyed and soon 

 become black in color and bitter to the taste. The peel is left uninjured until the 

 disease has made considerable progress within, but finally becomes thin and dark- 

 ened in color over the affected parts. The fungus vegetates freely among the pulp 

 sacks, which are wholly destroyed as far as the mycelium extends. The tissues 

 involved rarely include more than one-fourth of the fruit, and the destruction is 

 commonly confined to the tissues lying near and at one side of the navel. Infected 

 fruit ripens prematurely, showing an exceptionally high color, and soon falls from 

 the tree. The fungus producing this disease is a new species of Alternaria to which 

 the name ^1. citri is given. A specific characterization of the fungus by Ellis and 

 Pierce is given. 



Disease of Maryborough oranges, H. Tryon {Queensland Agr. Jour., 10 {1902), 

 No. 6, pp. 481, 482) . — Areport is made ona shipmentof orangeswhich was condemned 

 in a market of New South Wales as being affected by disease. The fruit was found to 

 exhibit various blemishes and injuries of the skin. The first noted was due to the 

 action of hydrocyanic-acid gas, which had been used to fumigate the fruit. The second 

 injury noted was attributed to an Acarus, the injury taking the form of linear mark- 

 ings, spots, blotches, and patches of irregular outline, which are well developed upon 

 the surface of the fi'uit. These are usually of a dark or blackish-brown color and the 

 coalescence of a number of spots make quite large infected areas, the surface of which 

 is covered with an exudation that is something in the nature of resin. When a por- 

 tion of this is removed it shows the presence of mycelial threads of fungi, although 

 no particular species seems to be constantly present. The third disease described is 

 one caused by the orange mite {Plti/topus oleivorus) . This disease is present only in 

 a mild form and seldom causes more than a loss of luster to the fruit attacked. 



On the development of the anthracnose of bananas, G. Delacroix {Agr. Prat. 

 Paijs Chauds, 2 {1902), No. 7, pp. 89-91, fig. i).— The fruit of the banana is said to be 

 frequently attacked by the fungus Glceosporium musurum, which causes its ultimate 

 destruction. The fungus is believed to occur as a wound parasite and infection is 

 incurred through wounds (occurring upon the green fruit. 



A nematode disease of coffee, G. Delacroix {Agr. Prat. Pays Chauds, 2 {1902), 

 No. 7, pp. 80-88, figs. 2). — An examination of a number of specimens of Arabian and 

 Liberian coffee from Martinique showed the presence of the nematode Heterodera 

 radicicola in great abundance, and it is thought probable that the same disease occurs 

 in Guadeloupe. Accompanying the nematode was found the mycelium of a fungus 

 which is believed to be a species of Rosellinia. Based upon experiments conducted 

 elsewhere, it is thought that injecting carbon bisulphid about coffee trees would not 

 only destroy the nematodes but would also kill the fungus. 



