Raspberry Induslry Threalened by Disease 
Fifteen years ago the raspberry 
industry was in serious danger of 
passing out of existence. The so' 
called running out diseases had be^ 
come so prevalent that it was no 
longer profitable to grow raspber- 
ries. Newly set plantings would 
last only two or three seasons. 
Low yields of poor quality, crumb¬ 
ly berries, were the rule. Consum¬ 
ers of raspberries recogni 2 ;ed the 
low quality and the demand for 
this fruit was falling off. There 
was no way known to control these 
particularly destructive diseases. 
The trouble seemed to be in the sap 
of the plants and the diseases in¬ 
creased every time new plants were 
propagated There was practically 
no healthy planting stock to be had 
anywhere. 
Agricullural Research Supplies the Remedy 
Plant disease specialists of the U. S. Department of Agriculture 
and the Ohio Agricultural Experiment Station were asked to aid in find¬ 
ing a solution of the raspberry disease problem. They found, first of all, 
that the “running-out” diseases were caused by plant viruses. These viruses 
were found to multiply again and again in the plant sap. They were be¬ 
yond reach of any of the ordinary control practices, such as spraying. 
Once a plant became diseased it could not be cured. Unfortunately the 
diseased plant did not die immediately, but lingered on for several years, 
providing a constant source of infection for other plants. New plants 
propagated from diseased parents were inevitably diseased also. 
With all this in mind the disease specialists reali2;ed that the only 
practical remedy was to provide raspberry growers with a source of healthy 
planting stock. Accordingly they selected the most disease-free stock ob¬ 
tainable and by careful inspection and rogueing gradually developed, over 
a several year period, a foundation stock which was relatively disease-free. 
This was distributed to a number of raspberry growers who were willing 
to cooperate in the fight on disease. The process of inspection and rogue¬ 
ing was continued 
by the disease spe¬ 
cialists until a siz¬ 
able stock of heal¬ 
thy plants of sever¬ 
al varieties was de¬ 
veloped. Then in 
1927 the Ohio 
Small Fruit Im¬ 
provement Associ¬ 
ation was formed 
as a cooperative or¬ 
ganization to grow 
and sell healthy 
raspberry stock. 
Plantings such as this are the source of Registered Plants 
(Page Two) 
