36 



susceptible Victoria, branches which have cracked through 

 heavy crops of fruit should be cut off. Trees should never 

 be injured more than is necessary, and in every case the wound 

 should be immediately protected with tar. 



3. General Measures. Accumulations of woody debris 

 must not be allowed. Sawn-off branches and trees that have 

 been grubbed up should be removed from the plantation 

 immediately and be used for firewood. Small branches should 

 be burnt on the spot. To cut down dead trees without sub- 

 sequently removing them is useless, and to keep a wood-pile 

 in or near a fruit garden is a practice that cannot be too 

 strongly condemned. Tree stumps, e.g., poplar, occurring on 

 the borders of fruit plantations should either be removed or 

 covered with soil, as they are liable to give rise to fructifica- 

 tions of Stereum purpureum. (See Silver Leaf Order below.) 



Drainage also should be attended to. Silver Leaf is believed 

 to make more rapid headway on heavy soils and in damp 

 situations. Any improvement, therefore, in the drainage of an 

 orchard will help the trees to resist the disease. 



The application of lime, moreover, must not be neglected. 

 Where the soil is sour through lack of lime, the general health 

 of the trees suffers, and, as a consequence, they more readily 

 fall a prey to disease. 



4. Resistant Varieties. Where Silver Leaf has been very 

 severe it is advisable to plant plums other than Victoria or 

 Czar. This applies especially to cases where the ground is 

 surrounded by orchards or plantations in which the disease is 

 still rampant and where the new trees will be in constant 

 danger of spore-infection. Of varieties to be recommended, 

 Pond's Seedling, Monarch, Purple Egg Plum and Damsons are 

 generally fairly resistant, whilst Pershore Yellow Plum, 

 Eiver's Early Prolific, Blaisdon Red and Damascene are 

 extremely seldom attacked. 



Silver Leaf Order of 1919. Silver Leaf has now been 

 scheduled under the Destructive Insects and Pests Acts of 

 1877 and 1907. The new Order requires occupiers of any 

 premises on which plum trees are growing to cut off and destroy 

 by fire on the premises all the dead wood on each plum tree 

 before the 1st of April of every year. Where the dead wood 

 on the trunk extends to the ground the whole tree, including 

 the root, must be burned. An occupier of premises on whicn 

 trees are growing may also be required to cut off and destroy 

 in like fashion the dead wood of any kind of tree whatsoever on 

 which Silver Leaf fungus is visible. Any Inspector of the 

 Ministry of Agriculture or the Local Authority may enter 

 premises on which he has reason to suspect the presence of 

 trees or bushes to which this Order applies. 



