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jmd fruitful trees in the grove renders it one of the most destructive' 

 maladies known. It is widely distributed over the State occurring in 

 the oldest and best groves and on the land best suited for profitable 

 orange culture. The affected trees do not die at once, but apparently 

 revive when the rainy season commences. In this way false hopes 

 are aroused and the owner waits for years before he finally removes 

 the blighted trees and replaces them with healthy ones. Much time 

 and money have been wasted on supposed cures, the worthlessness of 

 which does not become apparent until after several years' trial. In 

 some localities from 1 to 10 per cent of the trees blight annually. The 

 annual loss resulting from this disease in Florida is from one to two 

 hundred thousand dollars. Within the last ten years it has caused 

 losses probably amounting to several million dollars. 



Symptoms. — Blight usually appears very suddenly and on trees that 

 have previously seemed perfectly healthy. The first symptom is a 

 wilting of the foliage, as if the tree was suffering from drought. At 

 first the wilting is slight and can be plainly seen only on hot, dry 

 days ; but it soon becomes very pronounced, and often continue so 

 during the wet season in summer, when rains are almost a daily occur- 

 rence. Most cases of blight appear in early spring, from February to 

 April, which is usually a dry season. Sometimes, however cases occur 

 in midsummer, when the ground is thoroughly wetted every few days. 

 After the wilting becomes severe the foliage begins to drop, and in a 

 few weeks to a few months, according to the severity of the case, the 

 affected branches shed nearly all their leaves. In many cases the 

 whole top of the tree is attacked at one time, but very often only a 

 single branch shows the disease at first. In such cases, however, the 

 entire tree soon becomes affected. 



As soon as the rainy season begins the trunk of the larger branches 

 put forth numerous water sprouts, which grow rapidly and at first 

 seem to be perfectly healthy. Eventually, however, these sicken and 

 gradually die back. The branches which first show the blight usually 

 retain for a year or more some foliage, which is abnormally small and 

 of a dingy green colour. ISTew growth is very sparse and does not pro- 

 duce normal-sized leaves. Such branches often show green twig all 

 over, even when nearly leafless. In the spring following the first 

 wilting (unless it occurs late in winter, when it is not until the second 

 spring following) these branches, though often nearly leafless, flower 

 very profusely and continue blooming for ten days to t-hree weeks 

 after the normal period of flowering has passed. Unlike the lemon the 

 flowering season of the orange is very definite, and usually is not 

 longer than two weeks. This profuse and late bloom consists of small 

 flowers which almost never set fruit. In fact, very little fruit is pro- 

 duced by a tree after it is attacked by blight. Trees bearing a full 

 crop may sometimes be attacked late in summer and mature their fruit, 

 but it is only in case of late attacks that any considerable amount of 

 fruit can be seen on diseased trees. Fruit borne by blighted trees is 

 ueually undersized, but otherwise is apparently normal. 



The contrast in the amount of fruit produced by trees attacked by 

 blight and those affected with mal-di-gomma is very striking, trees 

 suffering from the latter disease often bearing an unusually heavy 

 crop. 



