120 Report or THE BorTaNISt OF THE 
Between May 7, and July 25, 1902, three check canes died and 
one was lost, leaving only six alive at the latter date. During 
the same period the condition of the five living inoculated canes 
remained unchanged. 
Here, as in Experiment 6, the brittleness of the inoculated 
canes at the point of inoculation is to be regarded as evidence 
that infection occurred. It is not strange that the checks 
became discolored around the wax. At the time of making the 
inoculations there was considerable dirt on the canes near the 
ground. The canes being thickly beset with prickles it was 
next to impossible to wash them with disinfecting solutions, 
and it was not attempted. It is probable that spores of 
Spherella rubina (see page 129) and perhaps also those of 
Coniothyrium got into the wounds and caused the discoloration 
of the check canes. According to the writer’s observations, 
grafting wax wound about the canes, as in these experiments, 
causes, at most, only a slight discoloration of the bark and 
usually no discoloration whatever. 
Hzxperiment No. 8.— Date of inoculation, May 17, 1902. This 
experiment was designed to furnish information on the follow- 
ing points: (1) Is it possible to produce infection by inoculation 
during the spring of the second season’s growth; that is, on 
fruiting canes? (2) Can infection be brought about more 
readily by making a puncture passing through the pith than by 
simply abrading the bark as in all previous experiments? (3) Is 
it necessary to use grafting wax to cover the wounds? 
Twenty-five fruiting canes of the variety Cuthbert were 
selected for the experiment. At the point selected for inocula- 
tion, about one foot below the tip, each cane was first thor- 
oughly washed with a 1-1000 solution of corrosive sublimate te 
remove any fungus spores lurking there. 
Five canes were abraded with a flamed scalpel, a drop of dis- 
tilled water and a bit of fungus applied to the wound and the 
cane wound with grafting wax. Five checks were treated in 
the same way except that the fungus was omitted. 
Five other canes were bored through with a sterilized awl, a 
bit of fungus crowded into the hole, a drop of distilled water 
