90 



DISEASED APPLES. 



As to their capacity to stand transplanting, I will 

 state that in 28 rods of two-year old plants put out 

 last spring, not a single failure occurred, they were 

 cut off at the surface of the ground when planted. 

 They now stand nearly five feet in height. It is my 

 impression that any clipping the first season retards 

 their growth. Two-year old plants are best for 

 transplanting, they re(|uire less attention, and make 

 » fence quiclier. — Benjamin Sears, in Patent office 

 Htport, 1850. 



We tried the experiment of clipping the most 

 luxuriant shoots of an Osage Orange Hedge last sea. 

 sou, and are satisfied that they must be let alone the 

 first season of growth, though we have seen it stated 

 by some writers that the plants would bear any 

 amount of clipping or pruning. 



DISEASED APPLES. 



Mr. Editor: — In the July number of the Farmer, 

 is an article copied from the Maine Farmer, headed 

 "Singular Disease in an Orchard," that has given me 

 considerable uneasiness, from the fact that so far as I 

 am able to form an opinion from that article, I am 

 fearful that the same disease is among my apple trees 

 aud also in some other orchards in this vicinity. In 

 1849, I came into possession of the farm on which I 

 reside; the following fall most of the fruit on a lai-ge 

 apple tree near the centre of the orchard (contain, 

 ing one hundred and twenty-eight treei) was nearly 

 worthless, and has continued so up to this time, being 

 about as badly diseased last fall as usual; there be- 

 ing not more than one-fifth of the fruit on the tree 

 free from the disease. The disease begins to show 

 itself when the fruit is not larger than a nutmeg 

 and continues to spread from one to another, unti| 

 gatlwring time, or until the fruit is matured. For 

 some time before the fruit is ripe, nil grades of the 

 disease may be seen among them, from a light umber 

 colored, irregularly radiated blotch, not larger than 

 a pin head, up to a dark mahogany colored scab 

 three fourths of an inch in diameter. Some of the 

 oldest scabs have a deep crack across them, caused 

 by the expansion of the fruit, while the skin on t.ic 

 scab remains stationary. Where the disease begins 

 on the side of an apple freely e.xposed to the sun, an 

 apparently inflammatory process is set up around the 

 place of attiick, presenting a handsome pink colored 

 areola around it (as you will observe in No. 3 of the 

 specimens); this redness gradually fades in the centre 

 as the disease advances and widens upon the circum- 

 ference. Some apples have but one scab on, while 

 others are completely enveloped with them. It seems 

 to be principally confined to the skin, destroying its 

 vitality, and thereby preventing its expansion, while 



the healthy part of the skin performs its functions |: 

 properly, thereby causing the diseased part to appear ji 

 as if depressed. Where the whole surface, or nearly )i 

 all of it is implicated, the apple falls prematurely. |( 

 The later in the season the apple is attacked, the \ 

 less it is injured, and after maturity it ceases to pro- It 

 gress. The fruit on this tree has a yellow skin, am 

 as they lay upon the ground, there is a striking re 

 semblance to a tobacco spit upon a light surface 

 The tree appears to be in good health, and bears a* 

 abundantly as any in the orchard. The limbs on i 

 are not crowded, neither is it unusually shaded b; 

 foliage; the disease is worse on the under limbs, ani 

 in the centre of the tree. There are some grafts O) 

 the Baldwin in this tree, and the fruit on them sol 

 fers in the same maimer as the rest I felt no uneasii 

 ness about it until last fall, supposing it would no 

 spread, and was of the opinion that it would Ieav< 

 the tree first attacked before long, considering it 

 temporary matter; but this last fall nearly all my trea 

 having fruit showed more or less of it among then 

 and a favorite winter fruit was badly diseased. M "' 

 trees are principally seedlings, and apparently 1 1 

 healthy as my neighbors'. The orchard still remaii 

 in blue grass as I found it 



I have inclosed for your inspection samples of tl 

 disease, from which you can perhaps form a bett 

 opinion than from a written description of it. All tl 

 samjjles, except 4, 5, 6, were prepared in Septemb 

 to forward to you then. Nos. 4, 5, 6, were cut off 

 some apples this evening Jan. 5th. No. 1 presen 

 the fiist stage of the disease. No. 2 a more advan 

 ed stage, while No. 6 shows it in its maturity. Th 

 uKiy appear to many as a small matter, bui it is U' 

 so to me, and any information either you or yoi 

 correspondents can give, that will enable me to r 

 move it, will be thankfully recived. L. J. 



Trenton, Illinois, 1855. 



[Our correspondent has accurately described tl 

 appearances of the various stages of the disease c 

 fecting his fruit. We have consulted all of the te: 

 books on pomology at our command, but do not fir 

 any definite I'emedy proposed. As an e.xperiment, v 

 would suggest that our correspondent break up tl 

 soil underneath part of his trees, and apply lime ar 

 leacheil a.shes freely about the roots. As the fruit 

 most affected on the under limbs, and in the cent 

 of the tree, it would seem that liberal pruning won 

 aid in preventing the spread of the infection. Mai 

 a mi.Kture of one part of dry slaked lime with tn 

 parts of dry ashes, and put about a bushel of tl 



ii 



