Plum Pockets 171 



the leaves and blossoms are attacked by this blight they 

 are turned a very dark or even black color very quickly. 

 Where the disease has advanced far enough as to attack 

 the limbs or even the trunks of the trees, it causes a water 

 soaked appearance of the wood and bark, followed by 

 shrinking and cracking of the bark from which drops of a 

 sticky substance may exude. These drops are masses of 

 the germs and may be carried by insects to other trees and 

 the disease extended. 



For many years after the cause of this trouble was 

 known it was believed that it was impossible to stop it 

 after it had once gained entrance to the tree. However, 

 it has been found out that the disease can be kept in per- 

 fect control by pruning. It is highly important that the 

 orchard be gone over several times during the winter and 

 every twig and branch that shows signs of this disease be 

 carefully cut out, the cut being made fully a foot, or in 

 some instances more below the lowest sign of the disease. 

 The wounds should then be sterilized with corrosive subli- 

 mate, and the tools also sterilized with the same fluid before 

 touching them to any other branch. The germs can be 

 carried on the pruning tools, and unless thorough sterili- 

 zation is practiced, the pruning may result in more damage 

 than good. The orchard should be gone over several times 

 during the winter and a thorough search made for any 

 sign of this disease. 



Summer pruning may also be done to advantage, but 

 will require even more care about sterilization of the 

 wounds and tools, as the germs are then in their most 

 active and virulent condition. 



Plum Pockets 



This fungus bears a very close relation to that causing 

 leaf curl. It attacks the fruit of the domestic plums, caus- 

 ing abnormal deformities of the fruit, making them really 

 become large bladder-like structures, in which the 

 stone is rarely developed. It has been claimed that the 

 fungus lives from year to year in the twigs of the trees, 

 so that when once affected it cannot be very easily gotten 

 rid of. However, this fact has not been entirely proven. 



