THE CAJflADiAN aORTiCtJLTtJEtSt. 



213 



apple branches. Both showed the dis- 

 ease in eight days. It spread gradually 

 until on the thii-teenth day about two 

 inches from the apex was quite dead and 

 thy, and the branches were removed. 



On July 24th an inch or so of dis- 

 eased pear stem was sliced up' in a 

 watch glass half full of water, and, after 

 .stiiTing aboiit, the chips were all re- 

 moved, which left the water slightly 

 milky. This was used to inoculate 

 with, by making a puncture with a pin 

 and adding a small drop from the watch 

 glass. It was applied to the branches 

 of several kinds of fruit, but sufficient 

 time has not elapsed at this writing to 

 show results, except in the case of a 

 very young branch of June berry 

 {Amelanchier Canadensis) about six 

 inches long, which showed unmistak- 

 able signs of blight on the sixth day. 

 But the most remarkable results yet 

 secured were gotten by inoculating the 

 fruit of Bartlett pear with this watery 

 infusion. On the sixth day they were 

 all blackened for some distiince around 

 the point of inoculation and exuding a 

 copious flow of yellowish fluid which 

 ran down the side and dropped on the 

 ground. In fact, each was a great 

 running &ore. Upon cutting open the 

 [jeai-s they were found to be discolored 

 almost throvighout their interior. In- 

 oculation at the same time on quince 

 fruits showed the disease in seven days, 

 l)ut without any exudation, and, upon 

 cutting them open, only about one- 

 fourth the interior was affected. 



We may make the following general 

 statements which the experiments so 

 far tried (some sixty in all) fully su.s- 

 tain. The disea.se known as pear 

 blight is infectious, and may be ti-ans- 

 mitted from one tree to another by in- 

 oculation. It is not confined to the 

 pear but may attack other pomaceous 

 fruits, as the apple, quince, KnglLsh 

 hawthorne, and June berry. It is more 

 active, and progi-esses most rapidly 



upon young and succulent portions of 

 the tree. 



Under the mici-oscope any bit of 

 diseased tissue shows inconceivable 

 myriads of minute bacteria which fill 

 the water of the slide in which it is 

 mounted, like a cloud. It is, there- 

 fore, not necessary to depend on exter- 

 nal ap]>earances in oi-der to determine 

 the progress of the disease in a branch, 

 for the microscope will decide with ab- 

 solute cei'tainty. There can not be a 

 rational doubt that the bacteria are the 

 cause of the disease. 



Experiments are now being tried to 

 determine the mode by which the dis- 

 ea.se is naturally propagated. — E. Lewis 

 Sturtevant, Director A^. V. Agriculural 

 Experiment Station. 



INSECT PESTS. 



The striped cucumber beetle, Dia- 

 brotica vittata, is a pest well known to 

 the garden. We have applied kerosene 

 mixed A\dth sand, an ounce to the pound, 

 to the soil about the plants of cucum- 

 bers to prevent his ravages, but with 

 little, if any, beneficial efiect noted. 

 We also tried soluble phenyle diluted 

 with water at the rate of a tablespoon- 

 ful of the former to a gallon of tlie 

 latter ; the application seemed but a 

 partial remedy for the attacks of tlie 

 insect, and proved injurious to the 

 plants. Soluble phenyle mixed with 

 sand in the proportion of one ounce to 

 the pound proved alraost instant death 

 to the plants wherever it touched them. 



In order to test the influence of noxi- 

 ous odors in repelling the striped bug, 

 we placed among tlie j)lants of a hill of 

 squashes a few corn-cobs that had Vjeen 

 dipped in coal tai', placed a frame of 

 mosquito netting over the liill and in- 

 troduced a dozen or so of the bugs. 

 The insects ap|)Ued themselves to the 

 leaves of the squash vines with theii- 

 usual relish, and the following day we 

 found that instead of the enclosed bugs 



