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FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 
60 
and the best treatment, or he must think 
and act for himself. 
As an instance in point, the scaly-bark 
or nail-head rust disease was first brought 
to the attention of the Experiment Sta¬ 
tion some six or eight years ago. Noth¬ 
ing whatever was known of the new 
trouble. At that time it suddenly became 
quite virulent in certain sections of Pin¬ 
ellas county. The Experiment Station 
responded promptly, but meanwhile one 
man whose grove was badly infected, de¬ 
cided to attempt a simple treatment on his 
own account. He pruned his trees care¬ 
fully, wherever the infection was present 
on limbs or twigs. All pruned branches 
were burned. A few weeks after pruning, 
the trees were fed as strongly as seemed 
prudent. The new growth in turn be¬ 
came infected, but not to the same ex¬ 
tent as the old growth. In six months 
the pruning was repeated. The policy 
of maintaining the vitality of the trees by 
any means possible was continued. At 
the end of two years, after four applica¬ 
tions of saw and clippers, the trees were 
virtually free of the disease. Evidence 
of the disease on the fruit had been re¬ 
duced from approximately eig'hty per cent 
to less than one per cent. 
The instance narrated merely adds its 
slight weight to the law of immunity: 
If the vitality of the animal or plant at¬ 
tacked by disease can be maintained for 
a certain period of time, the animal or 
plant eventually develops within itself 
powers of resistance. This is not a scien¬ 
tific explanation, but it will convey the 
idea intended. 
In my opinion, the attack of lemon scab 
will be overcome in the same way—in 
this instance by spraying as well as prun¬ 
ing—the main consideration being to 
maintain the vitality of the tree until the 
attack weakens. 
With fruit at low prices, spraying does 
not seem to pay—general and continuous 
spraying. The insect and fungus friends 
of the grower are cheap laborers. When 
for any reason they are manifestly too 
few and the damage is severe, they should 
receive assistance, using every possible 
care in the selection of spraying chemicals 
and the method of application, to do the 
least injury to the grower’s friends. 
Pruning is a cardinal rule of horticul¬ 
ture. A pruning which is not too drastic 
puts new life intq a tree. The removal 
of all dead and diseased wood forestalls 
various attacks of insect and fungus ene¬ 
mies. 
Ants may be kept within bounds by 
uncovering the hills and thereafter spar¬ 
ingly applying a mixture of crude car¬ 
bolic acid and air-slacked lime, reduced 
to a brown powder. 
Citrus trees should be fed liberally, but 
it is well to remember that an orange tree 
can be over-fed, our good friend, Colonel 
Shepard, to the contrary. I persist in 
terming the condition resulting from an 
excess of ammonia, ammoniation. (Pos¬ 
sibly the hypothesis itself indicates per¬ 
sistence.) The fertilizer experts term the 
condition, from whatever cause arising, 
malnutrition. Stiff, new growth and 
multiple buds are among the most notice¬ 
able indications, and on observing these 
indications, the grower should at once 
take steps to restore a balanced ration. By 
increasing the proportion of potash in 
summer and fall applications of fertilizer, 
