8 BULLETIN ol 
An experiment was conducted on the spring bloom about 3 miles 
northwest of Miami, on a place managed by Mr. C. O. Hickok. It 
included a block of 25 seedling trees which bloomed profusely between 
March 8 and 28. Spraying was begun when the panicles on most of 
them were about half grown. March 14. The flowers on six trees 
were beginning to open when the first spray was applied. Xo trace 
of disease was apparent on the inflorescence at that time. Seven 
trees were left without spray, as controls. The spraying dates were 
as follows: March 14, 20. 25: April 2. 
Sprayed and unsprayed trees alike blighted. An occasional fruit 
was set. but the total number was negligible and the unsprayed trees 
had quite as much proportionately as the sprayed. 
DISCUSSION OF THE SPRAYING EXPERIMENTS. 
Mangos come into bloom very irregularly. On March S. 1912. on 
the Flanders place most of the buds were just beginning to swell, 
but a number had reached a length of 4 or 5 inches. This habit of 
irregular blooming makes it difficult to select a proper tune to begin 
spraying. Spraying before the buds begin to grow is of no value so 
far as protecting the inflorescence, and later the young fruit, is con- 
cerned. These must be kept covered with the fungicide while grow- 
ing if fungus invasion is to be prevented. The difficulty of so pro- 
tecting the inflorescence is at once apparent. Elongations of the pan- 
icles continue for a period ranging from 10 to 15 days. Those which 
were sprayed every third day were practically all disease free when 
the flowers began to open. This, however, required four sprayings 
in one case and six in the other. Those sprayed every fourth day 
showed but little more disease than those sprayed every third day, 
but those on which the spray was applied at 5 and 6 day intervals 
had traces of disease, showing that they were less perfectly protected. 
The spraying of the inflorescence at least three times, beginning 
when the buds are just swelling and repeating every fourth day until 
the flowers open, will help to prevent the dropping of fruit caused 
by the disease on the peduncles and pedicels. 
The blighting of the blossoms is by far the most serious form of 
this disease, as it does not lend itself to control by spraying. The 
inflorescence maybe kept in a clean condition up to the time of bloom- 
ing: but. when this takes place, immediately there are hundreds of 
points which are not covered by the fungicide and are open to infec- 
tion. . Observation has shown that infection takes place in this man- 
ner. A Totafari tree in the Subtropical Garden bloomed heavily in 
March, 1912. It was sprayed three times with Bordeaux mixture 
between the times when the buds began to swell and the flowers opened. 
The peduncles and pedicels showed no trace of disease when the 
flowers began to open. On March 26 the tree was in full bloom and 
there was every indication that a good crop of fruit would be set. 
