130 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



William N. Craig spoke of the blighting of melons and said that 

 they could not now be grown around here on that account. On 

 one occasion he had planted a lot of melon seeds outside and an- 

 other lot of the same seed under glass. Those under glass were 

 free from the blight while those outside were badly infected. 



Prof. Whetzel said that this melon disease was probably a mildew. 

 The fact that the wilt did not appear on the plants growing under 

 glass shows that the disease was not carried over in the seeds. 



In reply to a question the lecturer said that he had never known 

 the cherry tree to be affected by the fire blight. 



A question was asked if there was any way by which the blight 

 bacteria could be destroyed by introducing into the fertilizer some 

 poisonous preparation. 



Prof. Whetzel replied that so far as we know there is no remedy 

 for these diseases in feeding poisons in the plant food. The fertilizer 

 does not reach the stems in the condition in which it is taken up 

 by the roots. There is no very successful treatment known for 

 plant diseases by feeding them with medicine. 



An inquiry was made as to the remedy for the black-knot of plum 

 trees. 



Prof. Whetzel answered that the black-knot of the plum is very 

 easily controlled if the knots are carefully removed. They should 

 be cut off in September or October and burned, and if all are removed 

 in the immediate neighborhood there would be no trouble. The 

 affected part should be cut out two or three inches below the knot. 

 They usually grow first on the twigs. 



