NURSERY INSPECTION. 
23 
and the apple aphis. According to Mr. Spangler’s record on field 
work, the apple leaf-hoppers were very abundant and in many cases 
severely checked the growth of large blocks of apple trees. This 
pest has been always with us. One nurseryman who had been very 
much troubled with the leaf-hopper had been in the habit of propa- 
gating from an old scion block severely infested by this insect, but 
is now starting a new orchard from which scions will be cut in the 
future. (NOTE: In the fall the apple leaf-hopper lays its eggs 
in the new twigs and branches of the apple, and scions being made 
from these, the pests are carried to new fields. F. L. W.) 
The increasing acreage devoted to the growth of poplar and wil- 
low cuttings has apparently had a similar effect on the number and 
severity of attack of the striped poplar beetle. This insect is now 
present in every nursery growing its host plant. It is a voracious 
feeder and if the trees are not sprayed upon its first appearance, 
becomes hard to control. 
Of plant diseases, the most injurious and most prevalent was 
crown gall. We also found anthracnose on raspberry, and Mr. 
vSpangler reported leaf rust on poplar and ash. 
Quoting again from his report on field work : “Crown gall is 
present in a greater or less degree in every nursery. The effect of 
this disease on the growth of apples in the nursery row, is not always 
marked and the only way to ascertain its presence is to dig or pull 
up the trees. This, at best, is an unsatisfactory and unscientific 
procedure. An inspection at the time the trees are dug in the fall 
or packed in the spring is the only scientific method. However, 
such an examination would be prohibitive considering the number 
of nurseries, and until it can be shown that the disease is more 
decidedly injurious to the apple, the present policy of warning the 
nurserymen to cull out the affected trees when dug, would seem the 
best solution of this problem.” It is believed, although crown gall 
may not affect the apple injuriously, that the soil where crown gall 
stock of any kind is grown, is so thoroughly inoculated with this 
disease, that any stock whatever subject to galls planted thereon, 
either with the affected stock standing in close vicinity or planted 
immediately following the removal of the diseased stock, would be 
seriously affected. For example, it is probable that nursery rows 
of apples planted between the trees of a young orchard infested 
with crown gall, would become in turn seriously affected. 
In the case of raspberries, however, this being a plant of rapid 
growth, crown gall is very injurious, and is so recognized. An 
