42 
FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
under a compound microscope to be com¬ 
posed of innumerable interwoven 
fungus threads. These fungi keep them¬ 
selves alive from generation to genera¬ 
tion and spread from place to place by 
means of seed-like bodies called spores. 
•m 
CONTROL OF FUNGOUS ENEMIES. 
< 
l 
Spraying is usually the first thing that 
is thought of in connection with a fung¬ 
ous disease. Spraying has been the great 
remedy in the past, and is still an effi¬ 
cient means of relief for many kinds of 
diseases of plants. 
While we may never be able to get en¬ 
tirely away from the use of the spray 
pump and fungicides, I believe that for 
orange trees at least in the future, the 
pruning knife, the saw and axe and the 
burning brush heap, and the planting of 
resistant varieties, are going to be a far 
greater factor than the spray pump, in the 
control of fungous diseases. It is not the 
purpose of this paper to discourage spray¬ 
ing for orange diseases in its right place 
and at the right time. Spraying for cer¬ 
tain insect and fungous diseases will no 
doubt always have to be resorted to for 
temporary relief, as the doctor uses med¬ 
icine. A doctor will insist on your living 
and taking care of yourself in such a way 
that you will not need his services, and 
yet at the same time, he will prescribe 
medicine to break up some ailment which 
you have let go along until it is serious. 
It seems that the situation is sometimes 
somewhat analogous to this in an orange 
grove. I believe, however, that the ideal 
we should work toward is to do away as 
much as possible with the necessity for 
spraying, as the doctor would advise you 
to so live as to do away with his medi¬ 
cines. 
It is the desire here to emphasize 
strongly the need for “the pound of pre¬ 
vention,' ’ grove sanitation, and care in 
keeping our trees resistant to an attack 
of the enemy, of propagating only good 
healthy nursery stock, and seeking for re¬ 
sistant varieties, and budding our trees to 
these; and sometime in the future, if pos¬ 
sible, to throw away our spray pumps on 
the scrap heap, so far as fungus diseases 
are concerned. The danger that comes 
with spraying for fungi in orange trees, 
is that in many cases while you are kill¬ 
ing one enemy, you may at the same time 
be killing half a dozen fungus friends. 
Therefore, one must know what he is do¬ 
ing. In using the pruning knife, the saw 
and the axe, we are not so apt to be kill¬ 
ing so many of our friends. It is neces¬ 
sary not only to study each disease in it¬ 
self, but to study it in relation to other 
diseases that may be present, and in re¬ 
lation to other factors, such as insects, 
weather, fertilization, etc. What may be 
of utmost value under one set of condi¬ 
tions may be all wrong under another dif¬ 
ferent set. 
STEM-END ROT OF CITRUS FRUITS. 
The fungous enemy causing stem-end 
rot is a comparatively new one. The oval 
spore of this fungus, about 1-4000 of an 
inch long gives rise to a filament that 
enters at the stem end of the fruit while 
it is still hanging to the tree, or after it 
has been picked. If it enters while on the 
tree the fruit drops and the fungus by 
means of innumerable branching and in¬ 
terwoven microscopic threads, causes it to 
