BLIGHTS OF CONIFEROUS NURSERY STOCK. 15 



(3) Even when all of the needles die at nearly the same time, there 

 will not be the simultaneous death of the roots which occurs in sun 

 scorch. 



(4) There will not be the same relation of the disease to dry 

 weather and dry sandy soil as in sun scorch. 



(5) Beds which have been protected by fungicidal sprays will not 

 be so likely to be attacked as others. 



In Germany needle-cast is said by Stump ff x and others to be con- 

 trolled by spraying with Bordeaux mixture in July and August. 

 There is no guaranty that the same measures will be effective in this 

 country. If the disease makes serious trouble in any American nur- 

 series, spraying at different times of the year should be tested, using 

 the 4—4—50 or 6-4—50 Bordeaux mixture containing 2 or 3 pounds of 

 soap per barrel. 



Ebermayer has attacked the evidence supporting the parasitic 

 origin of needle-cast, saying, among other things, that Bordeaux 

 mixture may protect not by preventing the entrance of fungi so much 

 as by decreasing transpiration. The writer's experience with the 

 1 1 50 soap-Bofdeaux mixture may be of interest in this connection. 

 A heavy application a short time before the occurrence of an attack 

 of sun scorch in seed beds of Pinus divaricata at the Halsey nur- 

 sery had not the slightest effect in decreasing the loss from sun 

 scorch, as shown by a comparison of parallel spraj^ed and unsprayed 

 beds. The shade afforded by a " half-shade " slat frame in one of 

 these beds at this time gave absolute protection against the disease. 

 This indicates that the effect of Bordeaux mixture in reducing trans- 

 piration at critical times is negligible. 



PESTALOZZIA NEEDLE BLIGHT. 



Pestalozzia funerea Desm. is very common in dead coniferous nee- 

 dles in the United States. Tubeuf 2 considers it the probable cause 

 of a twig-blight of cypress trees. In the United States, Spaulding 3 

 induced needle disease on seedlings of Pinus ponderosa one month 

 old by spraying with spores from a pure culture of this fungus. A 

 test by the writer on 1-year-old white pine (Pinus strohus L.) under 

 moist-chamber conditions, using cultures from jack and Rocky Moun- 

 tain yellow pines, was without result. A further test on 1-year-old 

 stock by Dr. Spaulding also gave negative results. Attempts were 

 made by the writer to infect green shoots on old trees of arbor vitse 

 (Thuja occidentalis L.), some of which had been injured by punc- 



1 Stumpff. Die Schiitte und ihre* Bekampfung. Zeitschrift fur Forst- und Jagdwesen, 

 Jahrg. 32, Heft 11, p. 675-687, 1900. 



2 Tubeuf, Kail von. Diseases of Plants Induced by Cryptogamic Parasites. English 

 edition by W. G. Smith. London, New York, and Bombay, 1897, p. 493^99. 



3 Spaulding, Perley. A blight disease of young conifers. Science, n. s., v. 26, No. 659, 

 p. 220-221, 1907. 



