156 
FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 
rence of the disease. Nip a recurrence 
at once. Should you fail to inspect your 
trees frequently and systematically, or 
should you neglect to treat them promptly 
when trouble is found, Gummosis will 
often become so firmly established, from 
lower trunk to upper branch and through¬ 
out the entire life-system of the tree, that 
it becomes impossible to check its work 
of destruction. 
Gummosis seems to be a fungous dis¬ 
ease, but as this paper is merely in the 
nature of a few practical suggestions 
from one grower to other growers, I am 
only interested in effects and treatment 
and not in cause or causes. From my 
personal experience I should say Gummo¬ 
sis is contagious. Where a tree affected 
by Gummosis is not promptly treated, 
•other trees in the vicinity will often con¬ 
tract the disease. It is recommended that 
a cloth be spread around the trunk of a 
tree, about to receive treatment and that 
all bark and scrapings be gathered up 
carefully and burned. 
A new and more deadly form of Gum¬ 
mosis in all probability must be added to 
the enemies of the citrus—the disease 
identified as Psorosis. 
The writer has recently lost two vig¬ 
orous young seedling grapefruit, about 
twelve years old. One of these trees, in 
the judgment of several expert observ¬ 
ers, was killed by lightning. Tops of 
other trees close by were slightly affected. 
The bark about the tree from the crown 
to a distance of two feet above the ground 
was entirely dead. 
The second tree at first showed no sign 
of wilting, but the bark about the crown 
was without life and had much the ap¬ 
pearance of the tree described. It was 
entirely girdled, but there seemed to be 
no gumming on trunk or limbs. Trees 
in the vicinity did not appear to be af¬ 
fected in the least. 
Reasoning from the angle of elimina¬ 
tion, the tree in question did not seem to 
be affected by Blight, nor would the us¬ 
ual lightning tests apply. It did not have 
the appearance of Mal-di-goma. Also 
the seedling grapefruit is not subject to 
Mal-di-goma unless strongly exposed by 
contagious contact, which was not the 
condition in this case. 
It may be that this new manifestation 
is a physiological disease. Certainly it 
seems to have the stealthy, deadly action 
of Blight, but as a preliminary the bark 
was killed above the crown. The tree 
was entirely girdled. 
There is always the possibility, in the 
instance cited, of a single-track lightning 
stroke—somewhat like our ex-President’s 
mind—one of those strokes which had 
some place in particular to go and went 
right there. 
FRENCHING 
Under this head the practical grower 
is interested in cause, for Frenching in 
many cases is the, result of an overt act 
by the grower. 
Frenching may be caused by any of 
a number of conditions unfavorable to 
the health of the citrus. Green vegetation 
in quantity, plowed under in the summer 
or early fall, inducing fermentation and 
greatly increasing the humic acid condi¬ 
tion of the soil, will bring about French¬ 
ing. 
Dead leaves or grass in quantity bur¬ 
ied close about a tree will cause the same 
