— 3— 



the terms by which they describe the various plant dis- 

 eases. For the greater nuraber there is a common name 

 which will answer our purpose just as well. There are 

 two or three different names for almost every one of the 

 different plant diseases. For instance, leaf blight, rust 

 or sunburn are names for a strawberry complaint that is 

 very common. Small red or purple spots appear here and 

 there on the leaves and soon grow larger and browner 

 until the whole leaf may be discolored. This disease is 

 worse after the fruit has been picked, and you may wonder 

 what harm it can do at such a time. Just as every sick- 

 ness makes a person weaker, so every time a plant is affect- 

 ed it becomes less able to produce good fruit the next year. 



Sometimes the fruit and leaves of the strawberry plant 

 are covered with a whitish cobwebby mildew which curls 

 up the leaves as though they had wilted. This affection 

 is known as mildew. These two diseases are the ones 

 which usually do serious injury to the strawberry planta- 

 tion, and you will have little trouble in recognizing either 

 one. Right here let me urge you to examine all the or- 

 chards and small fruit plantations within reach to see if 

 you can find any of the diseases or insects which are de- 

 scribed in this lesson. If you happen on anything which 

 you are not able to name, either ask the fruit grower or 

 send a little piece of the sick plant to the Botanist or 

 Horticulturist of the Illinois Experiment Station, Urbana. 



Currant and raspberry bushes and grape vines are at- 

 tacked by diseases very different in character and appear- 

 ance, but frequently spoken of by the one term — anthrac- 

 nose. The anthracnose of currants shows itself in small 

 blackish brown spots between the tissues on the upper 

 sides of the leaves, which turn yellow and drop in mid- 

 summer. On raspberries, blackberries and dewberries 



