38 SPRAYIXO THE APPLE ORCHARD. 



whole season in the orchard eared for as in the one neg- 

 lected. 



Not only the neglected orchard bnt the neglected road- 

 side and pasture trees, very many of them worthless seed- 

 lings, harbor all the pests of the apple, where they breed 

 unmolested and constantly migrate to the orchard. Road 

 surveyors should be required to cut eveiy seedling or un- 

 cared for apple and wild cherry tree, and every property 

 owner should replenish his woodpile with them. 



HOW SPRAYING AFFECTS THE APPLE 

 DISEASES. 



Every year a large part of the apple crop of New Hamp- 

 shire is of inferior quality on account of the attacks of fun- 

 gous diseases. The extent and seriousness of the injury 

 depend largel}^ upon the weather conditions. Fungous 

 diseases are always favored by dampness and hence are 

 more serious in certain parts of the state and individual lo- 

 cations, but while the climatic conditions are so important 

 a factor in their growth, the fungi themselves are the real 

 cause of the trouble. 



Fungi are plants which have no green coloring matter 

 and which, being unable to obtain their starch food mate- 

 rial from the air, as do green plants, obtain it ready made 

 from other plants, living or dead. Those which grow upon 

 dead plants are known as saprophytes, and those living 

 upon live host plants are termed parasites. None of the 

 fungi have seeds, but all of them produce spores, which 

 serve the same purpose. These microscopic spores are ex- 

 ceedingly small and light, are readily carried by insects or 

 the wind, and when they light upon a suitable host plant 

 they may infect it with the disease. Some of these fungi, 

 for instance the apple canker, are unable to gain entrance 

 into healthy trees and fruit and are therefore dependent 

 upon insect or other injuries for their start. On the sur- 

 face of the leaves, fruit, and younger twigs of the apple are 

 breathing pores, minute openings through the protecting 



