and this should be a warning to planters to 

 avoid such soil. For remedies and preventive 

 measures see " Canker, or Canker Fungus," 

 page 169. 



Coniferous trees suffer quite as much as 

 hard-wooded trees from the attacks of various 

 fungi. The larch canker or blister fungus 

 (Peziza Willkommli) has proved by far the most 

 destructive of any in our woodlands ; in fact, 

 the amount of damage done by this wound 

 parasite may be considered as little short of a 

 national calamity. Whole plantations in every 

 part of the country, Ireland now included, 

 have suffered severely from its attacks, and in 

 many instances the trees have been cut down 

 and others planted in their stead. 



Usually the attacks take place in young 

 plantations, say, between the age of ten and 

 fifteen years ; but it must be remembered 

 that at no period of its existence is the 

 larch immune, though in old trees, probably 

 on account of their harder bark and wood, 

 there is less liability to attack. Soil would 

 not appear to count, for trees growing on 

 chalk, gravel, deep loam, and vegetable 



