1907.] PUBLIC DOCUMENT — No. 33. 17 



exercises a repressive influence upon a number of fungous 

 diseases. It has been noted that fruit trees have been remark- 

 ably free from such diseases, and the fruit unusually perfect 

 and free from imperfections where the lime and sulfur treat- 

 ment has been practiced, and the opinion is expressed that the 

 San Jose scale may prove " a blessing in disguise." 



A brief rejDort is presented of the trial of a number of dif- 

 ferent fungicides for potatoes. The wet Bordeaux mixture 

 was found to be superior to any of the dry applications, but 

 the results of the season are comparatively inconclusive. 



The report includes an imix»rtant paper upon banding sub- 

 stances which are used for the protection of trees and shrubs 

 from insects. Relatively few of 'the substances upon the mar- 

 ket satisfy all the requirements in such a material. A num- 

 ber of them prove highly injurious if applied direct to the 

 bark. 



The report of the botanist includes a paper on the injury 

 to trees caused by illuminating gas. It appears that a large 

 amount of careless work has been done in the putting in of 

 gas mains. The injury to trees consequent upon the escape of 

 illuminating gas into the soil surrounding their roots has in 

 a number of instances proved very serious. 



The report concludes with a discussion as to the varying 

 texture of soil required for some of our more important spe- 

 cial crops. 



The report of the entomologists calls attention to the large 

 amount of injury to various greenhouse crops consequent upon 

 the attacks of the white fly. Fumigation with hydrocyanic 

 acid gas has been found the most successful method of destroy- 

 ing this insect, but the results of such fumigation have in 

 numerous instances resulted in great injury to the plants fumi- 

 gated. The capacity of different plants to endure such fumi- 

 gation is for the most part unknown. This subject has been 

 carefully investigated for greenhouse tomatoes, and a bulletin 

 soon to be published will present the results and give definite 

 directions. The report calls attention to the rapid spread of 

 the San Jose scale, which seems to be at present distributed 

 in nearly every town east of the Connecticut River. The 

 scale is found in old as well as in recently set trees. The re- 



