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426 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. me, 
on triumphantly, intent only on gathering inthe harvest of gold 
yielded by innocent victims to this hydra-headed monster. | 
And so we are brought face to face with the practical part of this 
brief talk—what can you and I do about it? What can we do to pro- 
tect the good fruit-tree agent and the victim of the bad agent? What 
can we do to enlighten the dark corners of ignorance and dispel the © 
mists of prejudice? 
Shall we try to shut out the “giant” by barb wire fence legislation? 
Vain attempt! He will crawl through or climb over any fence we 
can ever hope to build, or he will geta “ Fruit for the Home” banner 
and pretending to belong to the army of good agents, gain ad- 
mission at the gates. Shall we declare war on him? Surely not. 
This “giant” has such an immense brazen-clad cheek that the latest 
improved Maxin gun would have no effect on him. 
What then can we do about it? Not as a solution of this most 
difficult problem, but simply to bring it before our meeting for 
discussion, the following suggestions are offered: 
Starve the “giant” out by educating our people in horticulture so 
that he and his allies, ignorance and prejudice, will find no field to . 
work in; teach horticulture in our schools; preach it in our farmers’ “ 
institutes; have ourhorticultural societies’ fruit lists published ina 
few of the principal weeklies of the state; elect men to our legisla- 
ture that realize our necessities and opportunities. A few thousand ‘ 
dollars annually spent by our state in this great work would do a 
vast amount of good, and soon the North Star State would not only 
have abundance of fruit for the home but also havea goodly supply 
for export. Success to the good fruit tree agent! 
TREATMENT FOR BLIGHT.—This trouble is due to bacterial 
disease, the germs of which enter the tree through the flower or 
breaks in the bark. The young inner bark and the cambium layer 
are most seriously affected. Situated beneath the bark, it is impos- 
sible to check the trouble by spraying. When any particular part 
becomes affected, as indicated by the blackened leaves, cut off some 
distance below the injury and burn. Thorough work should be 
done after the growing period. This is by no means a sure pre- 
ventive, but it is about the only methed of checking the disease. 
In a succulent, rapidly growing tree the blight bacteria find more 
favorable conditions of growth than in one which develops more 
slowly and vigorously. The Cornell station holds that for this 
reason too much nitrogenous manure is dangerous. A succulent 
growth induced by severe pruning should be avoided. Experiments 
have proved that withholding water from potted trees has checked + 
the progress of the disease. In addition to apple trees, this blight 
attacks the pear, quince, mountain ash, service berry and several 
species of hawthorn.—O. J. Farmer. 
