FOURTEENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART XL 837 



In regard to the prospects for fruit, Mr. Wesley Greene, of the State 

 Horticultural Society, reported as follows, on May 7: 



Apples, 93 per cent; pears, 90 per cent; American plums, 90 per cent; 

 domestic plums, 75 per cent; Japanese plums, 80 per cent; cherries, 89 

 per cent; peaches, 79 per cent; red raspberries, 77 per cent; black rasp- 

 berries, 88 per cent; blackberries, 89 per cent; currants, 94 per cent; 

 gooseberries, 90 per cent; strawberries, 84 per cent of a full crop. The 

 general average for all crops is 85.5 per cent, the highest since 1901 

 when it was 4.5 per cent higher. 



In southern Iowa, a prolonged drouth lessened the yield of corn, al- 

 though the small grain crop was good. Northern, and especially north- 

 eastern Iowa was more favored with rain and hence the crops were much 

 better. 



Rust of wheat, oats, apple scab and apple blight were more serious 

 in northern and northeastern Iowa than in southern Iowa. Oats smut 

 was common everywhere in the state, Mr. Burger reporting a loss of 

 13.5 per cent in Black Hawk county, a loss somewhat larger than in 

 many other parts of the state. The loss probably is not far from 10 per 

 cent in the state. Surely the farmers of Iowa should treat the oats seed 

 with the formalin method before planting. 



The money loss from various other fungus diseases is as great or 

 greater than from oats smut. Some of the diseases are preventable and 

 the loss can be very materially reduced by better methods of culture 

 or the treatment with fungicides. Root diseases, like potato scab, blight 

 of wheat, yellow leaf disease of barley, can only be prevented by the 

 use of seed treatment and proper rotation of crops. The farmer and 

 horticulturist should take heed of the lessons taught by the ravages of 

 the fungus parasites of plants. 



In order to show the influence precipitation has on the abundance of 

 fungus diseases, the weather conditions are given for several localities 

 in Iowa, namely Decorah, Ames, Council Bluffs and Keokuk, in the 

 following tables: 



