APPLE DISEASES 



479 



examined. 457, or a little more than 75 

 per cent, had some root injury from gall, 

 aphis, alkali, hard pan, farm machinery 

 or something else. This examination was 

 necessarily superficial, because we were 

 careful not to injure the roots, and gen- 

 erally the area dug was not more than 

 one foot from the body of the tree, and 

 not more than six inches deep. Yet 

 with this casual examination, 75 per cent 

 showed root injury. Of the 100 trees 

 where the whole root was examined, 

 every one of them showed root injury or 

 malformation of the roots. 



In Mr. Strobach's orchard, near North 

 Yakima. Washington, I thought at first, 

 that I had found an exception to this 

 rule, but a more careful examination 

 showed injury, doubtless from gophers, 

 and I have the root on exhibition to show 

 where the ends had been eaten off and 

 the bark damaged. In one other orchard 

 I thought I had found a marked excep- 

 tion. However, an examination of the 

 conditions showed the following facts: 



First. There was a substratum of hard 

 pan near the surface, and this hard 

 pan was strong in alkali. 



Second. In some places it was only six 

 inches and in others two feet from the 

 surface to the hard pan and the average 

 depth was only about sixteen inches. 



Third. In many cases the roots of the 

 trees were down to the hard pan and in 

 growing could not penetrate, therefore 

 had turned, grown laterally, and formed 

 a kind of elbow. 



Fourth. In irrigating, the water could 

 not penetrate the hard pan, and would 

 tend to water-log the roots of the trees. 



Fifth. The orchard had been given 

 clean cultivation to a depth of say four 

 inches, which would cut off the tender 

 rootlets to that depth, leaving an area 

 below the cultivated area and above the 

 hard pan of from two to twenty inches. 



Instead of this being an exception to 

 my rule, it became, after analysis, one of 

 the most conspicuous proofs of it. 



The Symptoms Described 



I have purposely left the description by 

 which rosette is usually judged, up to this 

 point, because I regard that what we gen- 



erally call rosette, is merely a symptom, 

 rather tlian the disease itself. Three 

 symptoms may be described as follows: 



1. The leaves on one or more branches 

 of the tree fail to develop properly and 

 have a yellowish appearance. 



2. The branch on which these leaves 

 appear, fail to elongate: and at a time 

 of the year when it would normally have 

 grown two or three feet in length, it has 

 only grown two or three Inches. This 

 gives the leaves a bunched or rosetted ap- 

 pearance. 



3. The wood of the previous year's 

 growth has failed to enlarge and has a 

 sickly or shriveled appearance as if it 

 lacked vigor. 



When we presume that the rosetted 

 branch is a symptom of a disease, located 

 on some other part of the organism, we 

 are following well known precedents. For 

 instance: 



Jaundice in the human body is mani- 

 fest by a yellowing of the skin, but phys- 

 icians say it is located in the liver. 



Dropsy is said to be an accumulation of 

 serus fluid through some cavity or the 

 cellular tissues of the body, but the real 

 disease is in the kidneys. 



A bluish skin is regarded as a symptom 

 of heart disease, and unusual heat or 

 dryness of the skin as a symptom of tu- 

 berculosis. 



Therefore when we say that rosette is 

 a symptom of a disease located in some 

 other part of the organism, we follow 

 laws Ijy which other diseases are judged. 



Another reason for this belief, and one 

 that appeals to me with a good deal of 

 force, is that if we take a rosetted 

 branch and follow the avenues of its 

 food supply down the trunk of the tree 

 and into the root, we will find that all 

 along the path of this circulation there 

 are the same symptoms of disease as on 

 the top. The bark of the tree is often 

 yellowish, the cabium lacks vigor as is 

 " manifest at the top, and this condition 

 is traceable to the root which is diseased 

 or injured, in much the same manner in 

 which a physician would trace a vein or 

 an artery in the human body. Even the 

 most casual observer has noted that some- 



