170 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



when there is much of the leaf disease, explains the belief of many 

 orchardists that scab is caused by the mildew. 



Mr. A. L. Hatch, of Ithaca, writes: "Apple scab worst on a 

 poor soil, or rather subsoil. Where an orchard has been planted on 

 heavy timber lands, where the original forest was mainly basswood, 

 white oak, and some ash and maple, the apples are much fairer than 

 on our white oak brush land, or on black oak land. An apple tree 

 is more influenced b}' subsoil than surface soil, when of bearing age. 

 In 1882, Joseph Elliot, of Port Andrew, in this county, had 1,600 

 bushels Fameuse, fair and smooth, while almost every apple we had 

 in 150 to 200 bushels here, was scabbed. On some soils Walbridge 

 is smooth and good. Mildew, we think, is worst where scabbing is 

 worst, i. e., as far as soil influence goes ; but is also \Qvy bad on 

 richer, warmer soils, especially if sandy. 



"Our notion is, that soils and subsoils that furnish most of the 

 protecting covering to leaves and fruit (whether it is silex or wax), 

 will grow trees less affected with scab and mildew ; and this is heavy 

 timber soil, with a subsoil not as porous as we have here on white 

 oak brush land — such as we find where basswoods, white oaks, ash, 

 etc. , attain large size, but not where black oak and second growth brush, 

 poplars, etc., prevail. Also, that a very damp atmosphere, with cold 

 when apples are from one-tenth to one-quarter grown, produces scab, 

 and with heat produces mildew, provided it occurs before the first of 

 July, before the first growth of apple trees is completed, and while 

 leaves are tender. This first growth is always complete in orchard 

 trees by the middle of July at latest." 



Prof. W. J. Beal states that scab is worst in seasons which are wet 

 at first, with alternating extremes of wet and dr}' weather later, and 

 Mr. Harris finds more of it in "muggy" weather following a cool, dry 

 period. According to Mr. Garfield, the side of the apple most ex- 

 posed to light is most seriously affected as a rule, so that from the 

 center of the tree "the fruit looked fair and beautiful, when really 

 there was not a perfect apple on the tree because of scab on the 

 outer side of the fruit." 



Like the mildew, scab is more troublesome on some varieties than 

 on others. As a boy I noticed the knobby, cracked fruit of the Early 

 Harvest in New York State, where, in damp summers, this variety 

 was always ruined. Professor Beal mentions Fameuse and Northern 

 Sp3" as scabbing badly, especiallj' on the lower limbs where they are 

 thick, while the Baldwin and Rhode Island Greening scab little, often 



