1920.] 



Diseased Fruit Tree Stock. 



1171 



may be obtained from the Office of the Ministry ( Publications 

 Branch), 3, St. James's Square, London, S.W. i. The price of 

 Miscellaneous Publication No. 24 is 3^/., post free, and Mis- 

 cellaneous Publication No. 25 may be obtained gratis and post 

 free. 



****** 



Although the condition of our orchard and fruit plantations 

 to-day shows a marked improvement over that of a few years 



ago, it still leaves much to be desired. If 

 lttTt"st:X' fruit growers generally are to be con 



gratulated upon the manner m which 

 they have made use of the results of scientific and technical 

 investigation carried out in their interests, there are too 

 many who are content to remain behi nd the times, and who do 

 not realise the importance of care and foresight in the business 

 of fruit growing. For example, in buying fruit trees to start a 

 new plantation it can only be false economy to purchase 

 inferior stocks. A plantation is put down to bear fruit for 

 many years, and compared with the value of the crop, year by 

 year, the difference in the initial cost of good and bad stocks 

 becomes quite a trifling matter. Yet one frequently hears of 

 fruit growers taking considerable trouble to obtain cheap 

 supplies. 



While this state of affairs exists it is not surprising that 

 nurserymen continue to find buyers for the inferior stock which 

 would normally be relegated to the rubbish heap. Examina- 

 tion of recently- established plantations sometimes reveals apple 

 trees affected with canker, brown rot, crown gall and American 

 blight, plum trees affected with silver leaf, black currants with 

 big bud, peaches with leaf curl, and so on. Even where trees 

 are not affected with disease they are often constitutionally 

 weak and of poor or stunted growth, and, occasionally, altogether 

 devoid of a proper root system. 



Under these conditions, it is not surprising that obnoxious 

 fruit pests abound throughout the country, and that large 

 quantities of inferior fruit are on the market. 



At the present time conditions are not normal. Stocks 

 are low and there is also a shortage of labour. There is some 

 reason for confidence that both quantity and quahty will 

 improve before long in many nurseries at present below their 

 pre-war standard, but the need for these improvements must 

 be pressed vigorously and continuously. It is encouraging 

 to see that the more progressive growers are awakening to the 

 necessity of procuring only the best stocks. Having obtained 



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