FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
59 
orange, but pomelo and Tangerine, al¬ 
though the most serious injury is done 
to the orange. 
This past season a peculiar disease has 
l>een noted in several parts of 'the State. 
It resembles in some respecrs foot-rot in 
that there is observable diseased tissue 
from which gum flows, but diifering from 
that disease, it is found on all parts of the 
tree, in many cases being found both on 
the stock and cion if the bud is rather 
hig'h, and in other cases being confined to 
the cion alone. ' Mr. Thornton reports 
that he has treated some trees with sul¬ 
phuric acid solution, also boiling water, 
with apparently great improvement. I 
can at present say nothing regarding the 
cause of the disease for that is unknown 
to me. In some cases, however, it seems 
to be due possibly to unfavorable effect of 
the stock on the cion, for it is far more 
abundant in those trees where the cion is 
larger than the stock. 
Mangos and avocados suffered severely 
last summer from the rotting and spotting 
of fruit due to the anthracnose fungus 
Colletotrichum gloeosporioides which has 
l)een shown by inoculations with pure cul¬ 
tures to be the same as the fungus caus¬ 
ing the disease of the citrus known as 
‘bvither-tip”. The past winter has been 
so dry that the disease was not nearly as 
abundant as the previous winter, but yet 
in many groves the blossoms were de¬ 
stroyed by this fungus so that but few 
fruits were set. This is especially true 
of the avocado. In general, however, the 
fungus is far less abundant than last year 
and as a result a far greater number of 
mangoes and avocados set than last sea¬ 
son. It was noticed that those trees which 
were sprayed with Bordeaux mixture dur¬ 
ing blooming period set fruit far better 
than those which were not so treated. In 
this connection a point of great interest 
was observed by me in the vicinity of 
Miami regarding the effect of improper 
fertilizing upon the injury from the fun¬ 
gus. A grove of budded avocados set out 
two years ago near the city of Miami was 
fertilized with a formula about as follows : 
Phosphoric acid .15 per cent. 
Ammonia .3 tO' 4 per cent. 
Potash.3 to 4 per cent. 
As a result doubtless of the low amount 
of potash in the fertilizer and of the lack 
of potash in our soils, last year's growth 
did not harden up well; furthermore, 
probably as a result of the excess of phos¬ 
phoric acid, the young trees blossomed 
very profusely, although they were far 
too small to do so properly. The fungus 
promptly attacked the blossoms (for the 
trees were not sprayed) and spread 
through the 'blossoms into the stocks of 
the inflorescence and into the twigs, the 
tissues not having been hardened up the 
fungus did not stop, however, as it us¬ 
ually does, but kept spreading down the 
trees, in many cases killing them 
to the ground ; in others, girdling 
some of the larger limbs by running down 
short spurs. I think there is no reason¬ 
able doubt but that this excessive injury 
bould have been prevented had the trees 
been properly fertilized. Of course the 
destruction of the blossoms by the fungus 
would require more than proper fertiliza¬ 
tion to prevent, viz: spraying* with Bor¬ 
deaux mixture. 
Celery suffered quite considerably 
around Sanford this year, from two dis¬ 
eases ; one, a leaf spot disease caused by 
the fungus Ccrcospora opii, and the other, 
black-heart, probably caused by bacteria. 
Nematodes probably caused somewhat 
more than the usual amount of injury to 
