I 12 



The Canadian Horticultnrist. 



mittee at the Winter Meeting at 

 Hamilton, who reported on it that 

 they judged it to be a seedhng of the 

 Snow, and that should it prove to be 

 a new variety it should be watched, 

 and if a good grower and productive, 

 it should be propagated. If you will 

 forward other specimens we will sub- 

 mit them to other pomologists for 

 their opinion. 



Bulletin No. 8 of the Botanical 

 Division of the Department of Agri- 

 culture has just come to hand, con- 

 taining among other things an article 

 on the Potato Scab, a list of the 

 Parasitic Fungi of Missouri, and 

 the two following questions and 

 answers, numbered 29 and 30, which 

 interest us as Canadian fruit growers : 



Remedies fop Apple Scab. 



29. I am preparing to spray 1,400 ten-year 

 old apple trees with Paris green and want 

 to add something for the scab. Has sul- 

 phate of copper been used for the latter pur- 

 pose ? — Charles Patterson, Kerksville, 

 Adair county, Mo. 



I would suggest the use of liver of 

 sulphur or sulphide of potassium, 

 using the solution of the strength of 

 one-half ounce to the gallon of water. 

 This should be used as soon as pre- 

 pared, or in other words, it should 

 not be prepared until 3'ou are all 

 ready to make the applications. 



In regard to the use of sulphate of 

 copper, the strength of the solution 

 which may be used has been deter- 

 mined. The following preparation 

 may be tried experimentally : In 

 two gallons of hot water dissolve 

 two pounds of sulphate of copper 

 (pure) ; in another vessel dissolve 

 two and a half pounds of ordinar}^ 

 carbonate of soda ; mix the two 

 solutions, and when all reaction has 



ceased add one pint of liquid am- 

 monia ; then dilute to twenty-five or 

 thirty gallons. This is easily applied 

 with a good spraying pump, and 

 adheres strongly to the parts sprayed. 

 Its preventive action lasts for a 

 long time. The action of the liver of 

 sulphur is soon dissipated. 



Peap Blight. 



30. I send you by to-day's mail some dis- 

 eased pear cuttings of the La Conte variety. 

 The trees from which the cuttings were taken 

 I set four years ago, being one year old at 

 the time of setting. The trees are on well- 

 drained sandy land, which has been well 

 fertilized with stable manure, cotton-seed 

 meal, and phosphates mixed with a large 

 amount (one bushel to the tree) of well-rotted 

 swamp muck or peat. They have been 

 vigorous up to this year, but within the past 

 month about every twelfth tree on a tract 

 of four acres has manifested the " die back," 

 beginning in the bud, generally of the high- 

 est and most vigorous shoot, and gradually 

 extending downward until in a few instances 

 It has reached the root, thus killing the en- 

 tire tree. — C. H. Franklin, Union Springs, 

 Ala. 



Your samples show unmistakable 

 signs of the disease which has come 

 to be generally known as " Pear 

 Blight." This malady is caused by 

 one of the most minute of living 

 organisms — a species of bacterium, 

 named by Professor Burril, the 

 discoverer, Microccus Amylovorus. 

 They are frequently spo'ken of collec- 

 tively as disease-producing germs, 

 and the malady they occasion belongs 

 to the same category of germ diseases 

 now definitely proven to occur among 

 animals and plants. These germs 

 are of extreme tenuity ; they are 

 borne from place to place and from 

 tree to tree by the atmosphere, which 

 is never so quiet but that its move- 

 ments are sufficient to keep such 

 impalpable bodies afloat. At present 

 we know of no certain means for 

 rendering the trees unsusceptible to 



