LIGHT FROM THE SOCIETIES. 



695 



methods, is the one who makes the most money. A cer- 

 tain grower in Massachusetts packs his fruit in baskets of 

 the finest and whitest basswood, puts in good fruit only, 

 and always asks five cents per quart above market rates 

 — and he gets it, too. Several other instances of the same 

 kind are mentioned. Once Mr. Hale saw a man buy a 

 lot of strawberries at 15 cents a quart, when apparently 

 the same grade of fruit in another crate could be bought 

 at i2>^ cents. Asked the reason for his selection, the 

 buyer replied, that the name of the grower on the outside 

 of crate assures him that the berries are as good clear 

 through the package as they are on top. He was in too 

 great a hurry to examine a new lot from an unknown 

 grower. This is a reputation well worth having. 

 Mr. Hale also says the average home is not one- 

 quarter supplied with the fruit it ought to have. It 

 is all nonsense for rural people to claim that they can 

 buy berries cheaper than they can raise them. Rural 

 people never buy all they want. They may get a few 

 quarts to last over Sunday, but they never bring in a half 

 bushel at a time that the members of the family may eat 

 all they want. A large family can almost consume a half 

 bushel of fresh fruit a day the year around. No better 

 and more profitable market can be found for a lot of 

 fruit than the family. It certainly is profitable, even in 

 cash. Plenty of fruit saves pies and cakes that make 

 work for the women, and dyspepsia for the children. 



Small Fruit Discussions. — J. T. Lovett followed 

 with a paper on " New and Promising Small Fruits," the 

 substance of which is given elsewhere. In the dis- 

 cussions of the various], papers on small fruit growing 

 Benjamin G. Smith, of Massachusetts, told of his 

 success with the English gooseberries. They can be 

 grown as well as the American sorts. Mulching is not 

 necessary, but plenty of manure is. He thinks cow ma- 

 nure is best. He succeeds quite well with the blue- 

 berry. Once he found a fine bush near Cambridge. He 

 gathered the fruit, planted the seed, and grew plenty of 

 fine plants, which soon yielded an abundance of fruit. 

 Prof. E. S. Goff, speaking of the importance of con- 

 sidering the market end, told of a banker in his place 

 who introduced the business system of the bank into 

 small fruit growing, and especially marketing, and who 

 sold j58,ooo worth of products from a few acres of land. 



The New Officers. — The election of officers did not 

 result in a change of the old staff so far as the following 

 are concerned : President, P. J. Berckmans, Augusta, 

 Georgia ; treasurer, B. G. Smith, Cambridge, Mass. ; 

 secretary, G. C. Brackett, Denmark, Iowa. C. L. Wat- 

 rous, Des Moines, Iowa, is first vice-president. 



Fungous Diseases of Pomaceous Fruits. — Professor 

 B. F. Galloway's paper on the " Recent Progress in the 

 Treatment of Diseases of Pomaceous Fruits," gave a re- 

 view of the results of experiments carried on by the sec- 

 tion of vegetable pathology during the past year. The 

 losses due to apple scab in 1890 are estimated to exceed 

 $16,000,000, and the damage to pears, plums, etc., by the 

 different diseases, at not less than $50, 000, 000 annually. 

 The way to fight these diseases is by protecting the young 



and unfolding leaves against the germination of the dis- 

 ease spores. The points to be discovered, were (i), what 

 kind of application is effective without injuring the 

 foliage? (2), how often should the applications be made? 

 (3), in what way can they be made most economically ? 

 The Bordeaux mixture has been found most effective. 

 On a small scale the knapsack pump is all right ; but for 

 large scab operations it is not effective enough. The de- 

 partment, so Professor Galloway informs us, is now at 

 work trying to construct an automatic machine, holding 

 about fifty gallons, that will spray four rows at a time, 

 and can be made at a cost not exceeding $25. The am- 

 moniacal solution of carbonate of copper has been found 

 best for mildew on apples, and for many other diseases. 

 Three or four early sprayings seemed to give as good re- 

 sults as seven or eight at intervals all during the season. 

 The cause of peach yellows is yet a mystery. The dis- 

 ease is transmissible. It can not be cured. It can only 

 be eradicated by means of the axe and fire. 



Pear Blight. — Prof. B. T. Galloway, in reply to a 

 question about the nature of pear blight, says that it is 

 caused by the work of a micro-organism which enters 

 the tree through a growing tip, or through a flower. 

 These microbes are easily obtained and can be bred like 

 insects or plants. What to do for their destruction is 

 another thing. We do not yet know much about it. 

 The leaf blight can be prevented by spraying with 

 copper mixtures, but this does not affect fire blight. 



The peach yellows riddle remains unsolved. Dr. 

 Erwin F. Smith is certain that the ' ' starvation " theory, 

 defended by Profs. Goessman, Penhallow and May- 

 nard, is wrong, and the question stands as before. 

 H. M. Engle, of Pennsylvania, suggests the use of 

 plum stocks for the peach, in order to fortify it against 

 infection. His own experiments seem to indicate that 

 the peach, when budded in the branches of such plum 

 stocks as the Blackman, are very little susceptible to the 

 disease. Dr. Smith replies that he is trying peaches on 

 plum stocks, but can not yet base conclusions upon the 

 results thus far obtained. He also states that he has 

 been on the station grounds at Amherst, Mass., and 

 found fifty cases of genuine yellows among 300 trees. 

 It is also shown that fertilizer applications bring out a 

 thriftier growth even in diseased trees, and Mr. Chas. 

 A. Garfield states that this effect often makes people 

 think that they are curing the yellows, though the disease 

 is progressing fast, and the trees soon die suddenly. 

 Prof. Bailey had made three trips through Delaware, 

 New Jersey and Maryland, and also saw Dr. Smith's test 

 lots. The yellows there did not follow the lines of appli- 

 cation. We must give up the idea that the chemical 

 nature of the soil influences the yellows. As one of the 

 first indications of the disease attack, Dr. Smith names 

 the premature development of fruit buds. 



The Peach Rosette. — Dr. Smith said that twigs af- 

 fected by peach rosette cannot bear fruit. The disease 

 is as dangerous as the yellows, much more contagious, 

 and always fatal. The diseased spurs appear as if af- 

 fected by green fly or like insects. 



