136 STATE BOARD OF HORTICULTURE. 



better to remove the tree and put a healthy one in its place. 

 The spot where the tree stood should be disinfected by a slack- 

 ing of fresh lime, and the ground j^ermitted to remain exposed 

 for a reasonable time. 



This disease being of a bacterial form, all chips and scrapings 

 should be carefully collected and burned, to prevent the spread 

 of the disease through the orchard. The tools should also be 

 dipped in some disinfectant before being used on other trees. 



Some growers are led to believe that badly diseased trees 

 can be restored to perfect health by cutting back the tops and 

 removing all large limbs to force a new growth. In all badly 

 infected trees there are always a few healthy roots that furnish 

 enough vitality to the tree to keep it alive. The cutting away 

 of all the foliage forces new growth, and while the trees some- 

 times produce large, coarse, puffy, and sour oranges for a few 

 years, they finally succumb to the effects of the disease, and 

 it is only a waste of time and energy to try to restore them. 



*" Crude commercial carbolic acid was found to be the best 

 remedy, and was used in varying strengths. When mixed 

 with its own weight of water it was found to answer the pur- 

 pose admirably, the gum having been previously cut away, so 

 that the application could be made directly on the parts most 

 affected. The result in almost every case was that new bark 

 began to grow over the diseased parts, at the lines where the 

 old bark was healthy. In cases where the roots had become 

 affected, the ground was carefully pulled away from the roots 

 of the tree to the depth of from six to ten inches, and, after a 

 day or two exposure, the diluted carbolic acid was applied, and 

 in the course of three or four weeks a second application was 

 made, when the soil was put back to its original position, and 

 subsequent applications of diluted carbolic acid were made, 

 from time to time, above the surface of the ground. Coal tar 

 has been found to be very efficacious also. It is applied by 

 taking the soil away from the roots of the tree and putting 

 from one half pint to a quart (according to the size of the tree) 

 in the soil about the roots of the tree, and covering the tar 

 wdth the soil so removed. Among those so treated are some 



*Prof. S. M. WoodbrWge, in essay before Farmers' Institute, Santa Bar- 

 bara, 189J. 



