THE BLACK-KNOl OF THE PLUM AND CHERRY. 



479 



a branch containing the knot be cut from the tree and left 

 on the ground, the spores will ripen in due season just the 

 same. Therefore it is of the greatest importance that all 

 knots be carefully collected and destroyed by fire. 



A disease which advertises itself so freely and openly, 

 and the treatment of which is too simple to be a matter 

 of dispute among fruit-growers, it seems could soon be 

 stamped out. But while ten growers may fight it in this 

 way with might and main, the eleventh will allow it to 

 spread over his trees, and from them 

 back to those of his neighbors. The 

 work cannot be pushed to completion , 

 simply because here and there a 

 shiftless persoil refuses to cooperate. 

 The Western New York Horticultural 

 Society has recently succeeded in get- 

 ting a plum-knot law enacted, the 

 provisions of which we outline as 

 follows : 



Section i makes it unlawful for 

 any person knowingly to keep on his 

 place any plum and cherry trees af- 

 fected with black-knot, and makes it 

 allowable for anj' one to enter upon 

 his premises and destroy the affected 

 part or parts of any tree. 



Section 2 provides that the super- 

 visor or mayor of any town or city 

 ^vhere such disease exists may ap- 

 point three competent freeholders as 

 commissioners. 



Section 4 makes it the duty of such 

 commissioners, or any one of them, 

 with or without complaint, as soon 

 as it comes to notice that black-knot 

 exists, or is supposed to exist, within 

 the limits of any town or city, to ex- 

 amine without delay the trees sup- 

 posed to be affected, and, if the dis- 

 ease is found to exist, to place dis- 

 tinguishing marks upon the affected 

 parts, or, in case the commissioner 

 or commissioners judge that any tree 

 should be entirely removed, to girdle 

 such tree and give a written notice to 

 the owner containing a statement of 

 the facts, with the order to remove 

 effectually and destroy by fire the part 

 or parts of trees so marked, and to 

 destroy entirely every tree that has 

 been girdled within ten days from 



the date of the notice above required, such order to be 

 signed by the three commissioners, or by any two of them. 



Section 5 provides that whenever any person refuses to 

 comply with the order, the commissioners are to carry 

 out the directions of the order and remove and destroy 

 by fire every tree or part of a tree so girdled or marked, 

 I he expense to be charged to the town or city. 



Section 6 specifies the penalty for not carrying out the 



order, The person neglecting or refusing to carry out the 

 order shall be adjudged guilty of misdemeanor, and be 

 punished by a fine not exceeding $50, or by imprisonment 

 in the county jail not exceeding fifteen days, or both, in the 

 discretion of the court. Any justice of the peace of the 

 town or city in which the offense shall be committed shall 

 have jurisdiction thereof, and all fines shall be turned 

 over to the mayor of such town or city, to be placed by 

 him in the contingent fund of said town or city. 



RT OF Young Tree badly inpested with Black-knot. 



photoijrap 



Section 7 allows the commissioners $2 a day for their 

 services, in addition to all other reasonable charges or 

 disbursements. 



This law is a new weapon against the disease, and it 

 seems to us can be made an effective one. The objection 

 to the peach-yellows law, namely, that the peach-yellows is 

 a disease yet subject to doubt and dispute and is not easily 

 recognizable, and that there is some difficulty in enforcing 



