26 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



February, 1912 



A Power Sprayer as Used in Mr. S. C. Parker's Orchard, Berwick, N. S. 



lines of hose, two men on the ground 

 and one man on the tank. The men on 

 the ground u.se hose thirty or forty 

 feet long, allowing them to walk 

 around an ordinary tree, covering 

 all sides, while the man on top of 

 the tank covers the top of the tree. We 

 have practically discarded Vermorel 

 nozzles for those of the Friend type. 

 The latter use more liquid than the Ver- 

 morel, but do not clog; and time is 

 worth more than a little extra home- 

 boiled lime-sulphur. A good pair of 

 oxen makes a splendid team for a spray- 

 ing outfit. Many of our large orchard- 



ists are using them, as it leaves the 

 horse team free for ordinary farm work. 

 To ensure good apples we must spray ; 

 and spraying with the appliances of to- 

 day is to the spraying of fifteen years 

 ago as the reaper of to-day is to the 

 sickle of our fathers. About one hun- 

 dred and twenty-five gasoline spraying 

 outfits were bought by Annapolis Valley 

 orchardists in the spring of 191 1. Pro- 

 bably as many more will come in for 

 191 2. Spraying must always be a cost- 

 ly and arduous work ; but with the im- 

 proved appliances and good fungicides 

 it is being freed from much of its terrors. 



Peach Diseases in Ontario 



Prof. L. Caesar, O. A. C, Gudph, Ont. 



Brown Rot (Sclerotinia fructigena) 

 (Pers.) Schroet, is the same disease that 

 is .so common on plums and cherries, es- 

 pecially sweet cherries, and that fre- 

 quently causes a large percentage of 

 these fruits to rot. Fortunately it is not 

 so destructive as a rule in our province 

 to peaches as to cherries and plums or as 

 it is to peaches in some parts of the 

 United States, where it has been known 

 to destroy as high as forty per cent, of 

 the whole crop in a year that was very 

 favorable for the disease. Nevertheless, 

 we sometimes lose a good many peaches 

 from this rot. Triumphs and a few other 

 varieties are much more subject to the 

 disease than Elbertas and some of our 

 other profitable kinds. 



Not only is the fruit attacked, but also 

 the twigs and small branches on which 

 diseased fruit is borne. The disea.se in 

 such cases seems usually to work its way 

 down from the diseased fruit into the 

 twig or branch and gradually girdle it. 

 This, of course, causes the part above, 

 with all its leaves, to die. Some seasons 

 the blossoms are also attacked. I have 



noticed this to be quite common in the 

 case of sweet cherries. 



Like most diseases there are certain 

 conditions that favor the development of 

 Brown Rot. The chief of these are 

 damp, warm weather, lack of sunlight 

 and of good air circulation, the presenr(i 

 of old mummied fruit on the trees, two 

 or more fruits touching one another on 

 the tree, and injuries from hail or biting 

 insects, like the Plum Curculio. 



MEANS OF CONTROL 



The conditions favoring the disease 

 give us hints as to how we may help 

 to ward it off : First, give the trees 

 plenty of sunlight and good air circula- 

 tion by removing unnecessary wind- 

 breaks and by judicious pruning; second, 

 knock all old mummied peaches and 

 plums off the trees in the fall and either 

 gather and burn them or plough them 

 under early in the spring; third, thin 

 the peaches so that no two will be touch- 

 mg one another; fourth, spray with 

 lime-sulphur for Leaf Curl and this will 

 protect the blossoms from attack; fifth, 

 if the Curculio is troublesome, spray with 



two or three pounds of Arsenate of Lead 

 to forty gallons of water soon after the 

 fruit is set, and remove all rubbish and 

 thickets from around the fence corners, 

 as the beetles winter in such rubbish. 

 Two or three pounds of freshly-slaked 

 lime may be added to each barrel of the 

 spray mixture as a safeguard against 

 burning. Sixth, spray with self-boiled 

 llmc-sulphur about a month or five weeks 

 before the fruit is ripe. Bordeaux or 

 commercial lime-sulphur is likely to in- 

 jure the foliage. For directions for mak- 

 ing the self-boiled lime-sulphur, .see our 

 spray calendar or lime-sulphur bulletin. 



CANKERS AND GUMillNO OF PEACH TEEE8 



In certain localities in the Niagara dis- 

 trict, especially at Queenston, Niagara- 

 on-the-Lake, .St. Catharines, and in one 

 or two orchards at Winona, it is a com- 

 mon thing to find large black gum-cover- 

 ed cankers, chiefly on the upper side of 

 large branches. These cankers do not 

 heal over, but continue to widen out and 

 enlarge until finally the whole branch 

 dies. The disease is not confined to On- 

 tario, but is quite common in Michigan 

 and in parts of New York State and pro- 

 bably in other states as well. 



In Ontario, so far as I know, it was 

 not very troublesome until the spring of 

 1908, and in that and the next year there 

 was a regular epidemic of it in the above 

 mentioned districts. Since then there 

 seems to have been much fewer new 

 cases, but the old ones are still active 

 and are causing the loss of many 

 branches in otherwise vigorous orchards. 

 The cause of these gummy areas is very 

 doubtful. There is apparently no bac- 

 teria present. 



At first, as the result of a number of 

 inoculations which showed that the 

 Brown Rot fungus would, if inserted 

 through the bark, produce very similar 

 gum masses, I was inclined to think that 

 this must be the cause of the disease. 



Fruit Attacked by Brown Rot 



Tho same disease attacks peaches, plums and cherries 

 (After Duifgar). 



