30 
smaller branches. The mam twigs die and the smaller side branches, 
having taken up the growth and received the nourishment intended for 
the main branch, become larger and appear as if the branches had taken 
sudden turns in the process of their growth. 
(2) Distribution. —The disease does not seem to have occasioned much 
alarm, although it appears to be widespread and liable to occur when¬ 
ever the causes that produce it are present. Bad cases of it occur in 
various portions of the orange belt visited. 
(3) Causes.- —It is the almost universal testimony of growers that ex¬ 
cess of nitrogenous fertilizers will either produce the die-back, or, what 
is equivalent, will produce the conditions under which the disease will 
develop. The evidence collected in the held bearing on this point justi¬ 
fies a similar conclusion. 
Among others the following conditions, under which the disease is 
prevalent, point to this source of the difficulty: 
(a) Proximity of orange trees to liorse stables or piles of horse manure. 
(b) Proximity of trees to houses where, with the carelessness induced by the 
porous sandy soil, household slops are thrown indiscriminately. 
(c) Proximity of trees to chicken pens. The habitual roosting of poultry in orange 
trees is likewise liable to induce the disease. In several groves visited it had been 
the former custom to use portable chicken pens which were moved from tree to 
tree in order to secure a natural guano in the place where it was supposed to be most 
beneficial. In all these cases the practice had been stopped because of the die-back 
that appeared in every tree thus fertilized. The trees had not recovered at the time 
of our visit. 
( d ) The excessive use of blood and bone or other commercial fertilizers rich in 
nitrogenous elements seems to stimulate the disease. 
i 
(4) Remedies. —Almost as general as the belief iu the cause or occa¬ 
sion of this disease is the belief that the lnost effectual remedy is to let 
the affected trees entirely alone. The cessation of cultivation and heavy 
fertilizing will remove the disease even in bad cases. We noticed trees, 
which two years ago produced no fruit, because of the severity of the 
disease, that were sufficiently restored to produce a half crop or more 
during the present season, with no other treatment than that above 
mentioned. 
II.—FOOT-ROT. 
(Gum disease, maldigoma.) 
(I) Nature of the disease. —This disease has long been known in 
Europe and has also given rise to some investigations in this country. 
Mr. A, H. Curtiss has quite fully described the disease, and we quote 
from his description: 
The prominent symptoms are exudation of a gummy or sappy fluid from near the 
base of the trunk, and decay of the bark in that region and of the roots below. The 
flow of gum and attendant decay of the tree extend upward and in a lateral direc¬ 
tion until the tree is girdled, also penetrating successive layers of wood. In some 
cases gum exudes from cracks in various parts of the trunk or even on the branches, 
and in others the decay progresses without emission of gum. Attendant or premon- 
