Pip Fruits: Apples 89 



pin will be seen. These are the fruits of the fungus. When small branches 

 are attacked, the fungus often completely destroys the bark, and eats into 

 the wood to such an extent that the branch breaks at the injured point. 



The Nectria is a wound parasite; that is, it can only gain an entrance 

 into the tree through some wound, which need not necessarily be very 

 large. Wounds in the fork of a branch are often caused by the wind 

 twisting the branch and causing a slight cracking of the bark where the 

 branch springs from the trunk, or by the branch being pressed down by 

 snow. Into such minute cracks the spores find their way, and set up 

 the disease. When canker appears on the smaller branches it almost in- 

 variably arises in those places where the bark has been injured by the 

 Woolly Aphis, or American Blight, in fact it may be truly stated that 

 canker, as a serious disease, appeared for the first time after the general 

 spread of American Blight. The Nectria attacks various other trees, as 

 Beech, Oak, Hazel, Hornbeam, Maple, &c., but in no instance has it in- 

 creased to the extent of becoming a serious epidemic, except on the Apple 

 tree, because there alone it is aided by the wounds made by American 

 Blight. 



Where the disease has gained much headway the branches should be 

 removed, as the mycelium of the fungus spreads in the wood considerably 

 beyond the wound. In the case of slight wounds the diseased portion 

 should be cut away, going well beyond the boundary of the wound; the 

 scar should at once be painted over with a coating of gas tar to insure 

 against further infection. Methods should be adopted for the destruction 

 of American Blight, care being taken to remember that this pest frequently 

 hibernates on the underground part of the trunk, or the collar, during the 

 winter months. [G. M.] 



" Stirling Castle" will canker miserably when planted on heavy land, 

 but will grow healthily without signs of it on a light land, with plenty of 

 manure in it. 



" Hawthorndens " will canker as if smitten with leprosy on thin, poor, 

 chalky soil, but will maintain a healthy vigour for years upon a generous 

 soil. When once an Apple is attacked badly with this fungus it is a diffi- 

 cult matter to get rid of it. Probably by the time this occurs some other 

 sorts on the plantation have given evidence that they are happy, and if 

 they or any of them also crop well, and the fruit sells well, the cheapest 

 course in the long run may be to do away with the cankered variety and 

 substitute one that has proved its suitability to the soil and situation. 

 The late Mr. T. Rivers gave a formula of manures to cure canker; it was 

 quoted by Mr. Wise in his paper before the Royal Horticultural Society 

 already referred to. One should receive with the greatest respect any 

 advice backed by the exceptional knowledge and experience which was 

 possessed by the late Mr. Rivers, but one may doubt whether any given 

 combination of manures can be expected to be applicable to every soil, 

 or to meet the difficulties of every variety of Apple that finds itself unable 

 to resist the attacks of the fungus. When the long-talked-of Government 



