The Canadian Horticulturist. 



REMEDIES FOR APPLE SCAB. 



SiR,—T noticed, in the April, June and July numbers of the Horticulturi.st for 189<), 

 several different recipes for preparing fungicides. Would you please tell us which of the 

 four is the most effective and the cheapest ; as we must try to prevent the scab in the 

 apple and pear ? 



Walter Hick, Goderich, Ont. 



HE terrible havoc made upon our fruit crops by the fungus 

 diseases and the awful rate of their increase, should stir up 

 all fruit growers to activity. At one time we feared an over 

 supply of fruit, but now the question is rather how to get a 

 crop at all, at least of first quality. It has been calculated 

 by careful investigators in the United States that the loss to 

 farmers in that country during the past year, arising from the prevalence of such 

 fungi as rot, scab and the mildew, has not been less than $400,000,000. We 

 have no estimate of the injury in Canada ; but who of us, that has had any 

 experience at all, will doubt that we have suffered in like proportion. The apple 

 scab is a minute, parasitic plant which attacks the twigs, buds, leaves (See Figs. 26 

 and 27), and fruit of the apple tree, but is more commonly noticeable upon the 

 fruit itself, and its appearance is only too familiar to all our readers. There is 

 little doubt that the loss of our apple crop in southern Ontario last year, is to be 



Fig 



Leaf affected with Apple Scab. 



Fig. 27. — Section of leaf showing scab 

 fungus growing through epidermis. 



credited to the unusual prevalence of the apple scab, brought about in part by 

 the cool, moist weather, which was so favorable to its development. As considerable 

 space has been given in our journal in the past to the description of this fungus 

 and its mode of growth, it is unnecessary to repeat it here. The great question 

 is that raised by our correspondent about the most suitable remedy to employ 

 in its destruction. 



The chief difficulty thus far has been the fact that any fungicide, strong 

 enough to kill the apple scab, is also destructive to the foliage itself. But it is 

 now found that the scab fungus lives through the winter on the young shoots and 

 upon the scales of the buds ; if, then, we can prevent the germination of the young 

 spores in early spring before the foliage is developed, and when conse- 

 quently strong solutions can be applied to the tree, we have a practical method 

 of combatting this disease. 



