New York AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 135 
During a fruit disease survey of the Hudson Valley made by 
the Station in 1899, it was learned that currants in that section 
suffer severely from a disease in which canes here and there sud- 
denly wilt and die. Fruit growers call it cane blight. This disease 
was originally described by Fairchild,®? who discovered it in the 
Hudson Valley in 1891 and ascribed it to the action of a sterile 
fungus working in the wood. Ever since 1899 the Station has had 
cane blight under observation without learning any very important 
“new facts about it; but, recently, a thorough investigation of the 
disease has been undertaken and it is expected that more complete 
knowledge of it will soon be obtained. Experiments on its treat- 
ment, also, are in progress. h 
In the fall of 1906 the Station currant plantation was found to be 
abundantly infested with a rust fungus hitherto unknown to 
America. It appeared as a conspicuous orange-colored powder on 
the under surface of the leaves. With the exception of a single 
affected leaf it was not found outside the Station grounds. This 
rust has been known in Europe for fifty years and is there widely 
distributed. As a currant disease it. is unimportant. The chief 
danger from it lies in its effect on white pines, which are also at- 
tacked by it. Doubtless it is a recent importation from Europe, 
but just how it came onto the Station grounds is not known. In 
order to stamp out the disease, if possible, all Ribes plants on the 
Station grounds were destroyed. 
GOOSEBERRY. 
The European varieties of gooseberries and their American 
grown seedlings suffer from powdery mildew*** to such an extent 
that their cultivation is largely prevented in America, notwithstand- 
ing their superiority in the size and quality of their firuit. Mildew 
first appears as a whitish, frost-like growth, covering leaves, young 
shoots and berries. Later, it becomes brown and felt-like. The 
efficiency of potassium sulphide spray as a preventive of this dis- 
ease was thoroughly established by experiments made at this 
Station Commencing in 1887 tests were made each year during 
five consecutive years. The results were highly satisfactory. When 
the remarkable fungicidal properties of bordeaux mixture became 
* Bot. Gaz. 16:262 (1801). 
Sta Spheortheca mors-uve (Schw.) B. & C. 
= Rpts. 6:349; 7:153; 8:334; 9:307; 10:474; 14:354; 15:342-344; Bul. 133 
(same in Rpt. 16 :307-315) ; Bul. 161 (same in Rpt. 18:321-330). 
