102 



IklSll (lARDI.MNC 



N()\1MI!I K 



:in ;i\crau:c (.rop. W'h.it ilo tlif taniUMS ilo ? 

 Thoy dry fiinn. ilicy take a crop only every 

 second year, or two years in every three, as the 

 ease may l>e. Their crop t.iUes a\va\ the 

 moisture one year, hut the next year e\eiy 

 drop tliat tails is as I'ar as possible eons*.-! ved — 

 saved up lor the next erop. Antl this is done 

 by tillini,-- — tilling; in the midst o\ suintner so 

 that the soil is heaved up, the tank, so to speak, 

 is made bii,''i^er, and the weeds are torinentetl 

 and torn till their exisUMue, it they do exist, is 

 an\ thiui^" but a pleasure. 



Sil\cr-kal Disease. 



S11.\1:R-I.I-:.\1-' disease is of frequent oeeur- 

 renee amon^' plums, peaches, and tUher 

 stone-fruit. It is a fatal malady as 

 a rule, and any tree seriously affected can 

 scarcely live more than a few years. The 

 disease is characterised by a whitish or sihcry 

 appearance of the foliag-e, and its cause, until 

 quite recently, was wholly unknown. 1 1 was 

 by means of inoculation experiments in 1902 

 that Professor Percival demonstrated its funi;-oid 

 oriifin. The trouble is caused by an attack oi 

 the purple Stereum, a fung-us commonly found 

 on fallen tree trunks. The spores of Stereum 

 enter the tissues of a living- tree by way of a 

 wound in the bark. They then germinate and 

 produce a mycelium o\' extremely fine tubes. 

 So long- as the branch lives the mycelium 

 thrives. It grows forward and backward along 

 the branch, and is perennial. It is supposed 

 that the parasite produces a substance that is 

 carried along in the sap to the foliage, where it 

 accumulates, and so acts upon the cells of the 

 leaf that they get partially separated, and that 

 this causes the silvery appearance that is so 

 characteristic of the disease. An interesting 

 peculiarity of this parasite is that so long- as 

 the tissues of the branch within which it feeds 

 are alive it makes no attempt to produce spores. 

 When the branch dies, however, the stereum 

 immediately begins to fructify. The fructifi- 

 cation starts as a tiny patch of purplish substance 

 upon the surface of the bark. This gradually 

 develops into a toughish plate that g-rows out 

 or away from the bark. Its upper surface is 

 zoned and its under surface is purplish and 

 densely covered with extremely minute spores. 

 Usually several plates arise together, and are 

 placed one over the other in a tiered cluster. 



We have here t ui> facts of the utmost import- 

 ance to fruit-growers troubled with silver-leaf 

 ilisease ///'.v/, that so long as the branch is 

 ali\e there is no risk o( infection from tree to 

 tree, but t;ia\e risk of inleclion from branch to 

 branch ov iVoin stem \o root ; second, th.-it 

 l'ollo\\inj4 the death o\ a iManch spores ari.- 

 tormetl in enormous numbers, and the possi- 

 bilities o'( infection from tree to tree are at once 

 established. l-"rom the nature oi the case, 

 spraying is ol">\ iously useless. No spray or 

 other external application can touch the parasite 

 growing in the living- wood within the protect- 

 ing bark. 



I''rom what has been said concerning the life 

 histor\- o\ liie Stereum it is suiricientK- clear 

 that tlie only remedy is to at once remove the 

 entire limb affected with the disease, the sooner 

 tliis is done the belter. The branch may li\e 

 and bear fruit for several seasons, but it is then 

 sure to die, w hile, in the meantime, the mycelium 

 will have extended itself considerably — perhaps, 

 indeed, imperilling the life of the whole tree. 

 Another point must be remembered, tin 

 removed tiranch should be destroyed ; if merely 

 thrown aside the contained Stereum will 

 fructify and so become a centre oi infection. 



A number oi most interesting and instructive 

 experiments on this subject has been recently 

 conducted at the Woburn Kxperimental Fruit 

 Farm, and the results are given in the twelfth 

 report of the station.* It deals with methods 

 and results of inoculation, susceptibility oi 

 different kinds and varieties of trees to the 

 disease, influence of individual vigour of the tree, 

 treatment with iron-sulphate, effect of soil con- 

 dition and other subjects. Growers interested 

 in this disease should not neglect to get a copy 

 of this report. 



f^* ^^* ^* 



Simplicity in the Garden. 

 Tin-; satisfaction of a gfarden does not depend on the 

 area nor, happily, on the cost or rarity of the plants- 

 it depends on the temper of the person. One must first 

 seek to love plants and nature, and then to cultivate the 

 happy peace of mind that is satisfied with little. In the 

 vast majority of cases a person will be happier if he has 

 no rigid or arbitrary notion, f jr g^ardens are moodish, 

 particularly with the novice. If plants grow and thrive 

 he should be happy, and if the plants that thrive chance 

 not to be the ones that he planted, they are plants 

 nevertheless, and nature is satisfied. — ^^/Vf^'. 



* I.ondon : The Ama1gam.-»te(J Press, Ltd. Price, is. ^Yt^i-, 

 post free. 



