THE STRAWBERRY 



«7 



brood may be destroyed by spraying or dusting the 

 plants in August with some poisonous insecticide. 



The foliage of strawberries is also attacked by cer- 

 tain Strawberry Leaf-beetles, the parents of the 

 Strawberry Root-worms. On young non-fruiting 

 plantations, and on fruiting plantations after the crop 

 is gathered, these insects may be destroyed by spray- 

 ing with an arsenical poison. 



fungus enemies 



The Strawberry Leaf-blight or Rust is the 

 most destructive fungus enemy of this fruit. ''The 

 presence of the blight fungus," says Professor H. 

 Garman, ''is first marked by the appearance of small 

 brown spots, varying from one-sixteenth to one-eighth 

 inch. As they become abundant the spots fuse, form- 

 ing extensive brown areas, and finally occupy the whole 

 leaf. Eventually most spots show at the upper side of 

 the leaves a rim of dull purple of varying width. 

 Towards fall this change in the color of the leaf is 

 more prevalent. If one of the spots be cut through 

 with a pair of fine scissors, the leaf will be foimd, at 

 the point where the spot is formed, much thinner than 

 elsewhere, because of the killing and drying out of 

 its substance. Examined under a microscope, the 

 fungus may now be found to have pushed through the 

 tissues of the leaf, and to have formed all over the 

 brown central region of the spot, but most abundantly 

 at its margins, small whitish ttifts, looking like micro- 

 scopic shrubs. These are the fruiting parts of the 

 parasite, and are made up of numerous threads, each 

 bearing at its summit a long jointed spore. As these 

 latter ripen they are ?et free, and are scattered upon 

 fresh leaves by winds and rains, to germinate there, 

 push into the leaves, and form new spots." The fun- 



