210 MANUAL OF FRUIT DISEASES 
(Ribes vulgare). It is also found on the cultivated varieties of 
the black currant (Ribes nigrum), and the European gooseberry 
(Ribes Grossularia). The Wilder currant is said to be very 
resistant to cane-blight. 
The disease has been more or less under the careful observa- 
tion of American pathologists during the past quarter of a 
century. In 1899 it was studied in New York State under the 
name of cane-blight. More recently (1911) it has again been 
given detailed attention in New York. It occurs in Delaware 
and probably elsewhere, although its confusion with another 
trouble has made the determination of its range difficult. The 
history of cane-blight shows that it may become epiphytotic 
in regions where it is established. 
Symptoms. 
The conspicuous symptoms of cane-blight consist of a sud- 
den wilting and dying of parts or of whole bushes here and 
there throughout a plantation. This occurs during the sum- 
mer, at any time while the plants are in leaf. The leaves 
wilt, turn brown, and die on certain canes or portions of canes. 
Finally the leaves fall. The affected wood of a cane is killed 
at a point some distance below the wilted foliage. 
Cause. 
Currant cane-blight is due to the work of a fungus, Botryo- 
spheria Ribis. It attacks the canes, and the symptoms just 
described result. It was formerly thought that the disease 
was due to Nectria cinnabarina. The fungus B. Ribis passes 
the winter in the young blighted or dead shoots, or in small 
cankers. With the advent of the growing-season the pathogene 
invades and blights the parts below. The spores of the fungus, 
-which develop on the affected parts, may be carried to other 
plants by the wind or the American currant-borer. It is sug- 
gested that the beetle’s habit of oviposition may have some 
relation to the dissemination of the fungus. The currant is 
most easily infected, that is, most susceptible, during its period 
