English Orchard^ 



149 



stronger Bordeaux mixture with whitewash brushes. Sul- 

 phate of iron at the rate of 100 lbs. to 100 gallons of water 

 will also kill lichenous and mossy growths. 



There are several species of fungi that cause great harm 

 to apple trees, and, being in many instances unnoticed and 

 unsuspected, they continue the work of destruction without 

 let or hindrance. At first they find suitable nidi^ or resting- 

 places, in wounds caused by bad or injurious treatment, or by 

 the effects of frost, or upon trees whose vitality has been 

 lowered by ignorant or careless cultivation. The fungi are 

 conveyed from tree to tree and from branch to branch by 

 innumerable microscopic spores, wafted by air currents, or 

 carried by insects — notably the woolly aphis and the common 

 apple aphis. These fungi in time engender decay and 

 rottenness on the trunks and branches, and even on the twigs,^ 

 especially the fungus termed Ncdria ditissiwa, known 

 commonly as " canker," whose injuries are incalculable. A 

 full description of this fungus is given in the " Journal of 

 the Board of Agriculture" for December, 1895, where it is 

 shown that the perithecia, or spore-bearing cases, of the 

 fungus appear as minute brilliant red dots, from which 

 mycelia, or branching centres, are produced and penetrate 

 the rind and wood, drying-up and destroying its juicy tissues^ 

 Distortions are caused to the surrounding parts, and decay 

 occurs all round these mycelial centres. When these tiny 

 red spore-cases are noticed, and they can be just discerned 

 without a pocket-lens, all the infected branches should be 

 sprayed when the leaves are off with a strong solution made 

 by mixing 15 lbs. of sulphate of copper with 100 gallons of 

 water. The sulphate of copper must be thoroughly dissolved,, 

 and every part of the infected branch or tree must be 

 thoroughly soaked with spray. A hoiiillic bordelaise com- 

 posed of 15 lbs. of sulphate of copper and 10 lbs. of lime to 

 100 gallons of water may also be used for this purpose. 

 Sulphate of iron dissolved in warm water, applied in the 

 proportion of i lb. to i gallon of water, is also effective if 

 every part of the infected branches or limbs is saturated. 

 This mxust be put on vvhen the leaves have fallen. Young 

 trees should be closely inspected, and if signs of canker 



