150 THE CONNECTICUT P0M0L0GICAL SOCIETY. 



Report on Fungous Diseases for 1909. 



By Dr. G. P. Clinton, New Haven. 



The weather conditions of 1909 were on the whole such 

 as to place this year along with 1907 and 1908 as one of our 

 unusual years, especially as regards moisture. To start with, 

 there were the severe ice storms, of February, which did con- 

 siderable injury to the trees, especially in the northern half 

 of the state. Fortunately the fruit trees suffered less than the 

 forest and shade trees. 



The unusually wet and cold spring delayed the crops 

 considerably, and at the same time gave a favorable start to 

 certain fungous diseases, such as the scab and rust of apples 

 and the leaf curl of peach, so as to make them unusually 

 prominent during the season. The brown rot of peach, how- 

 ever, while getting a good start in the blossoms and young 

 twigs at this time, was kept from doing unusual damage by 

 the dry weather at harvest time. 



Another trouble, apparently largely due to the wet spring, 

 was the reddish-brown spotting of apple leaves. This trou- 

 ble seems to be developed early in the season, perhaps on the 

 leaves before fully matured. Ordinarily we have attributed 

 this to the black rot fungus, which also commonly occurs on 

 the twigs and in the matured fruit. However, it is only 

 rarely that the fruiting stage of the fungus can be found on 

 these leaf spots, so as to make its identification certain. Shel- 

 don, of West Virginia, has recently reported a very similar 

 injury from that state due to another fungus that we have 

 never seen here. Still other fungi have been found on such 

 spots and have been claimed as their probable cause. 



Wet springs like that of last year also bring more or 

 less injury from spraying with Bordeaux mixture, and this 

 injury on the leaves is often scarcely to be distinguished from 

 that caused by fungi when their fruiting stage is absent. The 

 complaints from spray injury last year were more numerous 



