THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
221 
YOUNGER 
NURSERY 
STOCK BEING 
PLANTED 
It is very interesting to observe the 
change which has been taking place in 
reference to the age of nursery stock used 
in orchard planting. Twenty-five years 
ago a three-year apple formed the de¬ 
mand which ruled widely and generally. 
The same age ruled in the case of the pear and the plum. 
With the peach two-year old trees were set, but with the 
others, the tendency was all towards the older grades. 
During the past ten years as orcharding has become more’ 
distinctly commercial, a decided change has taken place and 
the three-year old tree is the marked exception, while the 
one-year old tree in the stone fruits and the pear is the ruling- 
demand. This is partly due to the fact that nurserymen 
now grow better trees than they formerly did, they being 
larger at one-year old than they were formerly at two-years 
old. Then again, it has been learned that there is little 
gained in using the larger stock. The orchardist is taking a 
larger share in the heading of his trees and to this end he 
begins their training at an earlier age. This practice is 
sometimes carried to an extreme, as in the case of using June 
buds in planting peaches, but on the whole the tendency is 
making for progress in fruit growing. 
Attention has been called in these 
THE PASSING columns to the disease which is destoy- 
OF THE AMERI- ing the American Chestnut so rapidly in 
CAN CHESTNUT the North Eastern part of the United 
States. So severe has the attack been 
in Long Island and parts of New England that the Chestnut 
hillsides present a blighted and blasted appearance. In the 
immediate vicinity of New York City there has been an 
exceptionally severe attack. 
The U. S. Department of Agriculture has issued under 
No. 141, Part V, a bulletin on this subject. The bulletin 
summarizes the salient features of the life history of the 
disease. It appears to be of comparatively late appearance. 
The first observation dates not further back than 1904. 
One of the peculiarities about the disease is that it attacks 
only the Chestnut and its closely allied arborescent form, 
the Chinquapin. 
The life history of the disease is briefly as follows; Like 
most fungi the spores find entrance to the tree through 
wound or cracks in the bark. The leaves and green twigs 
are not immediately affected. The area involved is the 
growing inner bark. From the point of infection the 
disease spreads rapidly until the trunk of the tree is girdled. 
When this occurs. the markedly diseased condition is 
apparent and death soon follow's. The external appearance 
of the disease is marked by sunken patches of bark, more or 
less covered with pustules varying in color from yellow, 
through orange to reddish brown. The diseased area will 
often spread sufficiently rapid to girdle a tree in one summer 
although it ordinarily takes two years to complete the 
destruction of a healthy specimen. The technical name of 
this parasite is Diaporthe parasitica Murrill. 
Owing to the nature of the disease, the fact that it grows 
largely beneath the bark, and in consideration of the 
character and distribution of the host plant, no practical 
spraying remedy is feasible. Experiments have been con 
ducted by the Division of Forest Pathology of the Bureau 
of Forestry without any definite conclusions thus far. The 
only recommendations offered are to inspect nursery stock 
with the utmost scrutiny so that all diseased trees may be 
rejected and destroyed, and the prompt destruction of trees 
in parks or wooded lots as the disease manifests itself. 
The horticulturist of the Canadian 
INDIVIDUALITY Experimental Farms at Ottawa has re- 
OF APPLE cently reported on the results of a com- 
TREES parative study of the productiveness of 
different individuals of the same variety 
of apple trees, covering a period of 10 years. These studies 
show very interesting findings. For instance, in the case of 
Wealthy, one tree in a group of 17, yielded practically five 
times as many apples as the poorest and nearly twice as 
many as the average yield of the whole lot. Five trees 
out of 17 were notably productive, while 12 were relatively 
unproductive. 
In the case of McMahan White there was equally great 
variation. One tree in ii years yielded 94 bushels, while 
another only yielded 20 bushels. No other tree yielded 
more than 75 bushels for the period, while the average was 
considerably lower. In this instance 8 trees were com¬ 
pared . 
The yields of 2 trees of McIntosh were also compared 
during a period of 10 years, and one produced a little over 
twice as much as the other during that time. Another 
variety, Patten Greening, showed equal variation. One 
tree yielded 63 bushels in 11 years, while another tree 
yielded less than 30 bushels, and the average was some¬ 
thing like 40 bushels. 
All this points to the possibility of improving the pro¬ 
ductivity of our fruits by growing from selected strains. 
ORCHARD ENEMIES 
{Continued from page 218) 
CODLING-MOTH 
This is the pinkish caterpillar which causes a large pro¬ 
portion of wormy apples. The eggs are laid by a small 
moth on the leaves and skin of the fruit. Most of the 
caterpillars enter the apple at the blossom end. When the 
petals fall the calyx is open, and this is the time to spray. 
The calyx soon closes and keeps the poison inside ready for 
the young caterpillar’s first meal. After the calyx has 
closed, it is too late to spray effectively. The caterpillars 
become full grown in July and August, leave the fruit, 
crawl down on the trunk, and there most of them spin 
cocoons under the loose bark. In most parts of the country 
there are two broods annually. 
Immediately after the blossoms fall, spray with i lb. 
Paris green or 4 lbs. arsenate of lead in 100 gals, of water. 
Repeat the application about 3 weeks later. For use with 
Bordeaux and lime-sulfur see apple scab. Use burlap 
bands on trunks, killing all caterpillars under them every 
ten days from July ist to August ist, and once later before 
winter. Cornell Bulletin 142. 
