550 NEW JEESEY AGEICULTUEAL COLLEGE 



in the pots, by this means, was quite warm and kept wet by frequent 

 watering. After the dropsy was manifest a majority of the pots were 

 transferred to a middle bench, with no heating-pipes beneath, and 

 tlie tomato plants here outgrew the trouble. Those left upon the 

 side bench grew worse, and finally perished. 



Diseases in the Pear Orchard. 



The troubles in the pear orchard have been greater during the 

 season than the reports of the crop correspondents would suggest. 

 There are three leading fungous enemies of the jiear, while there 

 are several that play a secondary role in the shortening of the crop. 

 The most conspicuous is the Fire Blight, which is an old and wide- 

 spread disease, easily recognized by the brown, dead leaves clinging 

 to dying branches in midsummer, giving the appearance of having 

 been scorched by fire. Occasionally only one twig or large branch 

 may be thus destroyed, but in its worst form the whole tree is stricken 

 with the disease. The trouble is due to an invasion of microbes 

 {Bacillus amylovorus Burl.), which multiply with great rapidity in 

 the growing parts of the tree. These germs winter over in the twigs 

 and 00Z8 out through rifts in the bark in spring, and, the substance 

 being attractive to insects, are carried by them to the opening buds 

 and blossom when inoculation takes place, and the blight spreads 

 down the growing twigs, causing the scorched appearance before 

 mentioned. 



Owing to the nature of the disease it is not easy to check with 

 the ordinary spraying mixtures. Some varieties are less subject ta 

 fire blight than others, and this fact should be kept in mind in select- 

 ing trees for setting an orchard. When twigs are killed they are only 

 sources of further infection, and should be removed and burned. 



A second fungous enemy is the Leaf Blight {Entomosporium macu- 

 laium Sw. ), and is one of the most common of the troubles of the 

 pear orchard. It is this that has been actively at work this season 

 in bringing a])out the loss of foliage to a large numl)er of the pear 

 trees of the State. As the common name indicates, this fungus pro- 

 duces a blight in the foliage, recognized at first by ashy spots in the 

 leaves, followed by a ])rem;itur<' falling to the ground, leaving the 

 branches bare and the fruit to shrivel. This fungiis has been con- 

 trolled in many instances by spraying the trees with the 'Bordeaux 



