Tenth Annual Meeting 35 



the dry weather. Nevertheless, in the orchards examined, the 

 loss of perfect fruit from these two causes averaged from 5 to 

 20 per cent, or more. As usual, fruit grown on low, damp 

 ground suffered the most. So far as the Monilia is concerned, 

 it appeared to attack the twigs with unusual severity. This 

 is a more serious phase of the trouble than when the fungus 

 is confined to the fruit, since it involves great labor to remove 

 and destroy all the affected twigs, and if the latter are allowed 

 to remain on the trees, they become a fruitful source of in- 

 fection the following spring. 



The experience of the past season indicates that strong 

 Bordeaux mixture can be applied to peach trees before the 

 flowers open, and that, for later applications, a mixture con- 

 taining not more than two pounds of copper sulphate and 

 double the quantity of lime, to fifty gallons of water, may be 

 used. During the ripening period, a solution of potassium 

 sulphide may prove serviceable, though this has not yet been 

 demonstrated. 



Pears. — The fire-blight {Bacillus amylovorus) , unquestion- 

 ably the most destructive disease which pear -growers especially 

 have had to combat, seems to be gradually succumbing to judi- 

 cious treatment. The removal and burning of affected twigs, 

 as soon as the first symptoms of the disease appear, and, in par- 

 ticular, the prosecution of this work during the winter, have 

 resulted in the practical eradication of the disease from orchards 

 which a few years ago were in a fair way of being ruined by it. 



Plums. — The fruit -mold {Monilia fructigena) was very de- 

 structive, owing to a period of damp, muggy weather while the 

 fruit was ripening. Experience in many sections of the country 

 has shown that, by repeated applications of Bordeaux mixture, 

 followed by the ammonia solution of copper carbonate during 

 the ripening period, plums of the European and Domestica 

 types fan be fairly well protected from the inroads of this fun- 

 gus, and that without injury to the foliage. This is not true 

 of the Japanese varieties, the foliage of which is even more 

 susceptible to injury from fungicides containing copper than is 

 the foliage of peach trees. In such cases, a winter treatment 

 with strong Bordeaux mixture, the avoidance, by pruning, of 

 dense masses of foliage, judicious thinning of the fruit and the 



