REPORT OF THE APPLE AND PEAR CONFERENCE. 



39 



THUESDAY, OCTOBER 18. 

 Shirley Hibberd, Esq., F.R.H.S., in the Chair. 

 The Conference was resumed at 1.30 o'clock. 



CANKER IN FRUIT TREES. 



By Mr. Edmund Tones, B.C.L., F.R.H.S., Knowle, 

 Warwickshire. 



I have been requested to contribute a short paper for 

 discussion at this meeting, and as the results of some experi- 

 ments recently made by me appear to indicate that there may be 

 a remedy for that worst of all diseases affecting fruit trees — 

 canker, which is described in the "Herefordshire Pomona" as 

 " the terror of all orchardists and the bane of most orchards," I 

 thought it right to comply with the request. As my own 

 experience scarcely extends beyond my garden, and numerous 

 duties have prevented me from devoting even there that close 

 and continued observation which is necessary for the proper 

 study of such a subject, I should have hesitated to intrude my 

 crude notions in antagonism to the authorities if their news had 

 been clear and definite ; but as these are very vague, both as to 

 the cause and the cure of the disease, I venture to state my own. 

 Thompson, in the " Gardener's Assistant," says : " The cause is 

 imperfectly understood, and so consequently is an effectual cure; " 

 Mr. Fish, in " Cassell's Popular Gardening," says: "In fact, it 

 may almost be said to be incurable; " and the "Dictionary of 

 Gardening," the most recent publication on the subject, says: 

 " Were the causes better known, the remedy might generally be 

 much easier found." Yet these, and most of the other writers 

 on the subject, according to my idea, indirectly indicate both the 

 cause and the remedy for the disease, the cause being mal-nutri- 

 tion, the consequence of an imperfect provision in the soil of 

 the food required by the plant ; the remedy, the supply of the 

 food which is deficient. These writers inferentially indicate this 

 remedy : for instance, Thompson recommends that " the soil be 

 ameliorated by trenching and other means;" Mr. Fish, in 

 " Popular Gardening," says: "Lift the root into higher places 

 of warmth, and better and more immediately available supplies 

 of food ; " and the " Dictionary of Gardening " says : " Trees 

 that are badly cankered may be improved by lifting and replant- 

 ing in improved or better drained soil." 



