ANTHRACNOSE OF THE RASPBERRY. 1IJ9 



"These various results are conflicting. For myself, I do not be- 

 lieve that spraying alone is sufficient to keep down the anthracnose. 

 The very first re«iuisite to clean patches is a short rotation. Remove 

 the plants just as soon as they become weakened, either from an- 

 thracnose or a^e; next, thin out the young' canes and exercise care 

 to remove and burn those which are most diseased; third, cut out 

 £(nd burn the old canes just as soon as the fruit is off. These three 

 operations are essential to the best raspberry culture any way, and 

 if the anthracnose succeeds in enforcing them upon the attention of 

 growers its mission will have been fulfilled. If, therefore, a patch 

 became very badly diseased, I should pull it out; or if that were too 

 violent then I should mow off the bushes in fall, burn all the brush 

 and the following year soak the new shoots with Bordeaux mixture 

 as they grow. By sacrificing a year, it might be possible to eradi- 

 cate the disease. But I am sure that it can be kept in check by at- 

 tention to the three operations which I fiave mentioned." 



Prof. E. S. Gofif of the Wis. Exp. Station reports, "The disease at 

 this station and in some localities is quite serious, as at Sparta. I 

 have generall}' recommended the Bordeaux mixture as the best pre- 

 ventitive that I know of. I made the experiment on our own 

 grounds of spraying with the Bordeaux mixture, but was not fully 

 satisfied as to the benefits received." 



Probably Prof. W. J. Green of the Ohio Exp. .Station has as much 

 practical experience as any one, and fie reports as follows in a letter 

 to me: 



"I send a bulletin which mentions the raspberry anthracnose. 

 We succeeded quite well in keeping the disease from the plants, but 

 in our later experiments tfiere has been so little anthracnose pres- 

 ent that the results are not very decisive. 



"I think that one treatment before the leaves open is essential* 

 and after that it is very necessary that care should be taken to spray 

 the young canes only, as the mixture injures the leaves on the old 

 canes but not on the young. Of course, this recjuires some care, 

 but it can be done if one is careful. The first application to the 

 young canes should be made before they have reached the height 

 of six inches or as soon as they begin to come up. Only one more 

 is needed, and that before the shoots reach the height of one foot. 

 This brings the sprayings very close together, but no other course 

 is practicable. 



"I may say that others have not always succeeded as well as they 

 could wish in checking the anthracnose, but I think the failure is 

 largely due to the fact that they have not been prompt enough in 

 the work. We use Bordeaux mixture, 4 lbs. copper sulphate to 40 

 gals, water, for the first spraying, and half that strength for the sub- 

 sequent ones." 



In summary of this (juestion it seems to me that the l)est preven- 

 tative that we know of today is what the writers have mentioned. 



Care is necessary in selecting varieties that are best adapted to 

 the location and that are as free as possible from anthracnose. 

 Very few of the writers name any particular varieties, except in a 

 few instances. Most all agree that the black varieties are more sub- 



