1046 THE FRUIT INDUSTRY IN ^EW YORK STATE 



If one has been careful to remove such sources of infection from 

 his own orchard, however, he may hope to be able practically to 

 prevent serious injury to his trees by frequent patrol. 



The patrol should be carried on regularly and systematically 

 during the susceptible, or growing, period of the trees. This 

 means going over the orchard two or three times a week, and 

 walking up and down each row in order to look for blighted twigs 

 or blossoms. When these are found they should be cut away and 

 the wound disinfected or, if small, they may be broken away with 

 the hand, in which case disinfection is not needed as no tool has 

 come in contact with the wound. The twig should be removed at 

 a considerable distance below the part visibly infected, and for 

 perfect safety it is advisable to remove it at the limb. A twig 

 or a spur thus removed soon after infection is observed will save 

 the limb or even the entire tree. Soon after blossoming time 

 special care should again be given to patrol. The blighted blos- 

 som spurs may also be broken off with the hand. If these in- 

 fected twigs dry up soon after being removed, the bacteria on 

 them die and they are therefore not dangerous, but if moist 

 weather prevails at this time, the bacteria remain alive and the 

 twigs may prove to be a source of infection. It is safer, then, 

 to collect and burn the removed twigs. 



If new infections seem to occur more abundantly and fre- 

 quently in a particular section of the orchard, it is a good indi- 

 cation that hold-over cankers have been overlooked. A careful 

 outlook should be kept up for them in order that they may be 

 removed before much oozing occurs. 



One farmer who is successful in the control of this disease 

 patrols his orchard with the help of two bright children sitting 

 beside him on a democrat. The children receive a nickel for 

 every infected twig they discover, and one may be sure that none 

 escapes them, yet the father says the work is cheap at that. 



If it were possible to destroy the insects that carry blight, the 

 problem of control would be very simple. Some are difficult to 

 destroy, while others, especially honey bees, we do not wish to 

 injure. In answer to the question whether honey bees should be 

 kept in an orchard, we would say that they are unquestionably 

 very active agents in disseminating the blight bacteria during 

 blossoming time, and that if sources of infection are near and 



