FIFTEENTH ANNUAL MEETING. 43 



diseased specimens are usually scattered over the tree. Com- 

 ing on the green fruit and appearing prominently causes one 

 to think that later it will develop very seriously, but this is 

 not the case. The disease does not spread to the maturing 

 fruit and gradually comes to a standstill. This course of 

 development is quite different from the usual run of diseases. 

 There is no telling, however, whether the disease will or will 

 not take a more serious hold if in time it spreads to other 

 varieties. The trouble is quite distinct from the bacterial 

 twig blight that has occasionally been reported on the plum 

 and which is often so injurious to pears, etc. 



The most serious fungous outbreak of the year was that 

 of the brown rot of peach {Sclcrotinia fructigena). This 

 fungus is always injurious to a limited degree. Serious injury 

 from it largely depends upon weather conditions at harvest 

 time. This year these conditions were quite favorable for the 

 development of the fungus, for the moist weather came on 

 just as the peach crop was beginning to ripen and largely pre- 

 vailed until the crop was gone. The result was that the brown 

 rot very seriously interfered with what had given promise of 

 being a moderately fair crop. So far as preventive measures 

 go, we now know, from the various experiments that have 

 been carried on in the United States, about what are the most 

 effective measures in preventing this and the two other most 

 serious fungus troubles (scab and leaf curl) of the peach. 

 What we do not know exactly is how efificient and practical 

 ihese measures would prove as a general practice in peach 

 orcharding, or, in other words, whether the extra trouble and 

 -cost would give adequate financial returns. 



After a year's rest the leaf blight (Alternaria Brassicae 

 var. nigresccns) and the downy mildew {Peronoplasinopara 

 Cubciisis) last year again interfered seriously with the musk- 

 melon industry. Mr. Warncke, a member of the^ committee 

 on fungous diseases, however, reports a good crop from a 

 field that was sprayed three times with Bordeaux mixture. 



Powdery mildew of the strawberry {Sphacrotheca Humnli) 

 is a disease not reported before for the state. Dr. Britton 

 collected specimens in a field in which it was limited and doing 

 no evident injury. 



