150 [ DISEASES OF THE FIG TREE 



in these Islands on trees growing in cool and close 

 situations, or which have been neglected for a long 

 time. It shows itself in spring by the formation of too 

 many small and sickly shoots, with undersized leaves, 

 many of which soon after become partly or wholly burned 

 up or blighted and drop off, and therefore very little, if 

 any, fruit is produced. In winter the extremity of these 

 twigs with its terminal bud dies off, and the twig 

 gradually dies down to the branch whence it had sprung, 

 and after a sickly existence of several years the tree if 

 left to itself may die altogether. In sea-side localities 

 the disease is often attributed to the action of the sea 

 spray, but in the case of injury by sea spray the leaves 

 and new twigs become uniformly burned on the side 

 most exposed to the spray, and as a rule the vigour of 

 the tree is very little affected, stout shoots being produced 

 in the course of the spring and fruits of good size and 

 quality are obtained. Moreover, in fig-blight the wood 

 of diseased twigs shows reddish moist streaks or veins, 

 often prolonged downwards for some distance into the 

 wood of branches which are apparently healthy ; besides 

 the obvious fact that the disease is sometimes seen in 

 places where it cannot be attributed to the action of 

 the spray. The only effective remedy against blight is 

 hard pruning. In bad cases the branches will have to be 

 headed back- to the healthy wood. The root system should 

 receive proper attention as regards tillage, and in poor 

 soils a dressing of manure will be necessary. All prunings 

 should be picked up and burned. Saprophyte fungi are 

 sometimes found on twigs which had been killed by the 

 fig-blight, but these of course have no practical 

 importance. 



Perhaps the worst fungus attacking the foliage of 

 the fig tree is Uredo Fid Cast, which is the cause 

 of "fig tree rust." The attack is manifested by rusty 

 coloured spots thickly dotted all over the under surface 

 of the leaf, often appearing as discoloured or dead 



