368 [ ASSEMBLY 
No experiments in combating the disease were tried at the 
Station. Of the remedies which have been proposed, the following 
appear meritorious. They are based upon the supposition that the 
fungus coming so near to being entirely on the surface may possibly 
be reached by outside application, at least in some of its stages. 
Whether this hope will prove well founded can only be told by trial. 
Professor Burrill recommends kerosene emulsion made with soap or 
milk* as used for insects. Professor Saunders suggests three 
fungicides, either (1) hyposulphite of soda in proportion of one pound 
to ten gallons of water, or (2) sulphide of lime made by beiling two 
pounds of sulphur and one pound of quick-lime in two gallons of 
water with frequent stirring till of a reddish yellow color, then al- 
lowed to settle and the clear liquid poured off, or (8) sulphur in pro- 
portion of one pound to ten or fifteen gallons of water, kept sus- 
pended in the water by constant stirring.t These are to be applied 
with syringe or force-pump. ‘The best time of application must be 
determined by trial, but just before the leaves appear and dur- 
ing the early stages of the fruit would seem to be vital per- 
iods. It is also generally conceded that good drainage, open prun- 
ing, and judicious selection of varieties will do much to prevent its 
appearance. I judge from my own observations that whatever pro- 
motes the vigor of the tree will in so far act as a check to the devel- 
opment of the fungus. Its affinities are with those sorts that live’ 
upon dead or decaying plants, and we may therefore expect that a 
weakened constitution will be more congenial to it than a vigorous 
one. We may also infer this from the fact that it is the enfeebled 
tree made so by age, injury or lack of cultivation that suffers most. 
Lear Brownness. 
Morthiera Mespili, F'ckl. 
This fungus causes the tissues of the leaf to turn dark brown or 
blackish in small rounded spots which show on both sides the leaf. 
On the surface of these spots and mostly on the upper surface of the 
leaf, are a few minute black specks which the microscope shows to 
contain curiously grouped colorless spores, each with a lash as long 
as itself. (See fig. 1.) 
The oldest leaves are attacked first, and the disease progresses 
towards the end of the branches. The leaves are finally killed and 
drop from the trees, but the fungus is so inconspicuous that its pres- 
ence might be readily overlooked, and the fall of the leaves ascribed 
to a wrong cause. 
It has been studied by Sorauert whose vernacular name for the 
disease (Blattbriune), I have adopted, for want of any English name, 
although it does not seem particularly appropriate. He placed some » 


*Trans. Mississippi Valley Hort. Soc., 1883, I, p. 202. 
+Canadian Horticulturist, VII, p. 127. 
{Quoted by Frank, in Krankheiten der Pflanzen, p. 590. 
