BLIGHT. 219 



BLIGHT. 



A DISCUSSION. 



Mr, Barnes, (Wis.): In our section of Wisconsin, between two or 

 three hundred miles east of here, there has not been one-third the 

 blight there has been the past four or five years, owing- to some ex- 

 tent to having weeded out the blighting varieties and other reasons 

 on which I am not posted. Whether it was owing to the moisture 

 in the soil or owing to the dry season, I cannot say. Everybody 

 interested in trees should avoid growing those varieties that blight. 



Mr. Yahnke: I have been troubled a good deal with blight for a 

 few years, especially on tny Transcendant. I trimmed them at the 

 roots; I grubbed them out. On all the other trees, the Tetofsky 

 and the Duchess, there was more or less blight, and I went to work 

 and cut ofif every limb just as soon as they began to blight. I do 

 not know whether this was an exceptional year or not, but I noticed 

 that this year my trees were free from blight, but I have worked for 

 five years to keep the blight out. As soon as a tree shows a bit of 

 blight I cut off the limb. This blight is on the new growth of the 

 limb, and I believe it can be carried further by birds. It grows on 

 the end of the new growth, and it is a fungus that gets down on the 

 limb and can be spread in favorable weather by birds that sit on the 

 limb and by the wind. I think if horticulturists in a neigborhood 

 could get together to kill out the blight, take some united action 

 in that direction, it would accomplish the purpose, and we could 

 get rid of it altogether. 



Mr. Barnes. I trust it is not out of place to discuss the question 

 of blight at this time. I think we have struck one of the key notes 

 right here, and if we do nothing further than to discuss this subject 

 of blight, we will derive great benefit. It is a fact that blight is 

 disseminated from one tree to another, as this gentleman says. I 

 have noticed that blight travels from east to west, and it is more 

 contagious in the warm, southeastern winds than in any other. If 

 we do set ourselves to work to eradicate the branches of trees as 

 soon as we see a sign of blight appear, we can almost always check 

 it. My system is that as soon as I see a tree begin to blight I cut it 

 back into the green wood and burn it immediately. 



Mr. Bunnell: Is there not more blight in very moist weather than 

 in a dry season? 



Mr. Barnes: We have had less blight in our section this season 

 than we have had for years, and we have had more rainfall this year 

 than for three or four years previous. 



Mr. Philips, (Wis.): I have been looking for information on blight 

 for twenty-five years. I want to ask this question: If it is conta- 

 gious and is carried by winds and birds, why of two Wealthy trees, 

 standing side by side, subject to the same wind and sun, planted in 

 the same soil, one always bears apples, and a lot of them too, but it 

 will blight and blight badly, while the other without fruit has no 

 blight at all? 



Mr. Barnes, (Wis.): The tree that has no fruit has more vigor to 

 resist the blight. 



