9 8 



If the tree is too far gone to be saved, it may be sawn off at 

 or below the ground, and grafted. Scions should be kept dor- 

 mant for such an emergency, so that it could be done as late as 

 September. -This disease is not of the root, which invariably 

 remains healthy until after the whole .top is dead, and may con- 

 tinue still to live, by throwing up suckers. 



This very prevalent disease is often called ' sour-sap,' which 

 means even less than ' malaria ' in the human family, being capable 

 of so wide an interpretation. It is not caused by wet land, and 

 has nothing to do with the root, but it is most probably due to a 

 sudden chilling or freezing of the sap on the most exposed side 

 in the spring, after a period of warm weather has started growth. 

 This causes rupture of cells, decay of tissue, fermentation of sap, 

 and death. To prevent such a catastrophe, keep the trees pro- 

 tected while young, from the time they are planted, by wrapping 

 with burlap, or watch them every spring from the first, and cut 

 out any decayed or discoloured spot while small. It is commonly 

 supposed that trees thus affected die very suddenly. They ap- 

 pear to do so, it is true, one day being in bloom, or in leaf, 

 and in forty-eight hours, or less, dead. In reality such death 

 is lingering, the condition above described causing a gradual decay 

 which does not terminate fatally until it has spread all round the 

 tree. 



With the cherry the disease acts more rapidly than with the 

 prune or plum, and while in this case it may be a specific complaint 

 due to other causes, I am firmly convinced it is largely due to 

 climatic influences." 



IMPORTANCE OF PLANTING TREES AND NOT WAITING 

 FOR RAIN. 



We consider the above heading of sufficient importance to 

 orchardists throughout the country to warrant a separate para- 

 graph. Under our remarks on the " Initial Difficulties of Estab- 

 lishing Orchards in South Africa, 1 ' we give directions as to the 

 importance of planting young trees during the natural dormant 

 period, and we give full instructions for so doing (see page 46). 

 We again commend these instructions to your notice which, we 

 feel sure, if carried out, will give you a successful orchard with 

 practically the loss of no trees. As an additional safeguard un- 

 der the condition of drought, after planting we would say shelter 

 the stem with reeds or grass or the branch of a tree or something, 

 also some grass spread on the ground round the tree will tend to 

 additionally retain the moisture. As planters, we prefer every 

 time to plant our tree in a drought to letting it lie in cold storage, 

 although we have had splendid results in the latter manner. 



