258 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



December, 1908 



pared, at least from a chemical stand- 

 point, than the ordinary home-boiled 

 wash. They remain in perfect solution 

 and require only dilution with water to 

 be ready for immediate application. Re- 

 cent experiments have shown these pre- 

 parations to give excellent results in the 

 summer treatment of the more resistant 

 plants, like the apple,' cherry and others, 

 in comparison with Bordeaux. If the 

 factory boiled solutions can be put on the 

 market with sufficient economy they may 

 have very wide-spread use, not only in 

 supplanting the self-boiled wash and the 

 boiled wash, but also in competing with 

 Bordeaux mixture. 



APPLE SCAB 



The principal fungous disease of the 

 apple in Ontario, preventable by spray- 

 ing, is the apple scab, caused by the 

 fungus Venturia inequalis. This dis- 

 ease, which is very susceptible to the in- 

 fluence of wet weather, is only prevent- 

 able in a moist season by thorough spray- 

 ing. The first treatment should be made 

 when the trees are in bud, the second 

 when the last petals are falling, the third 

 about two weeks later, the fourth two or 

 three weeks later, and the fifth a month 

 later, making the last treatment occur 

 the last week in July or about August 

 I St. The fungicide giving the best re- 

 sults for this is the standard Bordeaux 

 mixture, say the 5-5-50, or, if the spray- 

 ing is done copiously, the 4-4-50 form- 

 ula will answer about as well. (Note. — 

 It is assumed that the author has refer- 

 ence to wine measure and not Imperial. 

 Fifty gallons of the former are equival- 

 ent to about forty gallons of the latter. 

 Editor.) The new self-boiled lime-sul- 

 phur wash gives good commercial results 

 when sprayed on the same dates and if 

 we had nothing better would be consider- 

 ed entirely satisfactory but the Bordeaux 

 mixture slightly exceeds it in efficiency. 

 It is slightly more persistent, sticks on 

 the fruit and foliage more thoroughly, 

 so that the longer intervals between the 

 latter sprayings are slightly more effec- 

 tive. To either of these mixtures one- 

 quarter of a pound of Paris green per 

 barrel or from one to two pounds of ar- 

 senate of lead may be added for codling 

 moth and other insect enemies. 



PEAR SCAB 



The pear scab, caused by a related 

 fungus, is amenable to the same treat- 

 ment. In both- of these diseases, the fac- 

 tory-boiled lime-sulphur has been shown 

 to give good results when diluted sufTic- 

 iently so as not to burn the foliage im- 

 mediately after application. One part to 

 forty, or perhaps one part to fifty, con- 

 centrated stock solution is the dilution re- 

 quired. If these preparations can be 

 brought to the standard and rendered 

 non-injurious, they will make a very con- 



venient spray mixture for this purpose. 



CHERRY LEAF BLIGHT 



Both the sweet cherry and the sour 

 cherry over a large part of Michigan and 

 New York states have been very severe- 

 ly defoliated by, the cherry leaf blight 

 fungus, Cylindrosporium padi. This dis- 

 ease seems to have increased in severity 

 during the past few years until cherry 

 growing without spraying is almost im- 

 possible. Further south some of the var- 

 ieties of cherries have been killed off, or 

 rendered worthless commercially, by the 

 repeated attacks of this leaf blight. Some 

 of the varieties of plums, notably the 

 Lombard, are so badly defoliated by the 

 same fungus as to require treatment. 

 Fortunately two or three thorough spray- 

 ings with either the standard Bordeaux 

 mixture or the self-boiled lime-sulphur 

 give results in preventing this disease. 

 Two or three treatments, the first made 

 after the trees are in full leaf and the 

 second and third following at intervals 

 of three to four weeks, give most excel- 

 lent results. 



PEACH CURL LEAF 



Probably the most important fungous 

 disease on the peach in this province' is 

 the curl leaf.- This is also perhaps the 

 easiest of all fungous diseases to prevent. 

 The plants can be rendered almost entirely 

 free from it by a dormant spraying. From 

 the fact that the trees are dormant when 

 treated, almost any fungicide can be 

 used with entire satisfaction. The treat- 

 ment with standard Bordeaux mixture 

 of the 5-5-50 formula is slightly superior 

 to any other. Even the simple solution 

 of copper sulphate, three pounds to the 

 barrel, answers fairly well. Probably 

 the best general treatment of the peach 

 orchard is to spray it with the standard 

 boiled lime-wash, since this will prevent 

 not only the leaf curl but the San Jose 

 scale and certain other insect enemies. 

 The factory boiled lime-sulphur appar- 

 ently answers just as well in this case. 

 This single treatment can be made either 

 in the fall or early spring. It can be 

 given just before the buds begin to swell 

 in early spring or, if this interval is too 

 short and for other reasons it is more 

 convenient, it can be applied in the fall 

 after th-» leaves are off. 



PEACH BROWN ROT 



In certain wet seasons where the heat 

 and moisture are unusually great, peaches 

 are attacked by the brown rot fungus. 

 This disease is especially prevalent and 

 destructive in the humid Southwestern 

 United States, from Pennsylvania south- 

 ward, but occasionally it does bad work 

 in the lake states and in Canada. For- 

 tunately through the investigations of 

 ^r. Scott with his self-boiled lime-sul- 

 phur in the season of 1907, this malady 

 is now added to the list of commercial- 



ly controllable diseases. On account of 

 the entrance of the fungus through 

 weather cracks, caused by moisture, and 

 through insect punctures, it is rarely 

 possible to control more than ninety per 

 cent, of the disease., but to one who has 

 seen the frightful destruction of a crop 

 attacked by this fungus, ninety per cent, 

 seems large. 



The standard mixture for this disease 

 is made by placing five pounds of stone 

 lime in a barrel, pouring over it five 

 pounds of flour or flowers of sulphur 

 and slaking the lime with just suffic- 

 ient cold water to do a good job and give 

 a creamy, pasty mass. This should be 

 stirred occasionally and the barrel kept 

 covered for twenty minutes with gunny 

 sacking, or some similar protection. At 

 the end of *^hat time it should be diluted 

 with cold water to the capacity of the 

 barrel. It can be used at once or kept 

 for several hours diluted but should not 

 be kept in concentrated form as it gains 

 in soluble sulphides. 



BLACK SPOT OF PEACH 



The treatment for Monilia or brown rot 

 fungus entirely prevents the black spot 

 of the peach, often a serious disease. In 

 fact one or two treatments for this dis- 

 ease alone will often pay a good profit. 

 This treatment should be made about 

 three weeks after the blossoms have 

 fallen when the young peaches are, say, 

 three-quarters of an Inch long, and can 

 be followed by a second one three or four 

 weeks later. 



Canadian Fruits 



W. T. Macoun, Ollawa 



Two out of the three best American 

 gooseberries were originated in Canada. 

 These are Red Jacket, or "Josselyn," 

 as it is now called in the United States, 

 and Pearl. The former is distinct from 

 any other named sort, but the latter is 

 apparently identical with Downing, al- 

 though it is not so. Pearl has given 

 better results at Ottawa than Downing. 

 Both the Red Jacket and Pearl were 

 originated by Dr. William Saunders. 

 The former is a cross between Downing 

 and Ashton's Seedling, and the latter a 

 cross between Houghton and Warring- 

 ton. Several other seedlings not so pro- 

 ductive as Pearl resemble it very much. 



There have been several ' strawberries 

 of great merit originated in Canada. 

 Of those in the trade at the present time 

 the most noted is the Williams. Proba- 

 bly nine-tenths of the berries raised in 

 the Niagara district are of this variety, 

 which is of good size, very productive 

 and firm. Its chief defect is a white tip. 



The Canadl'vn Horticulturist would 

 ilke to learn the opinion of growers on 

 low heading of trees. 



