Soe REporT OF THE HoRTICULTURIST OF THE 
' most, while the trees in the outside rows were noticeably freer 
from the canker than those in less exposed situations. 
It has been argued by some persons that the trees, now forty 
years old, have reached the limit of their usefulness and are dying 
of old age. However, those trees that are free from canker are in 
a very vigorous condition, and the fact that cankered limbs occur 
on much younger trees in widely separated localities and in the 
best orchards, tends to disprove this theory. Neither can the 
trouble in this case be attributed to neglect, unless it be in the 
matter of spraying, since the orchard has received from the begin- 
ning practically the same culture that is advocated by our best 
authorities of to-day. Sixteen years ago the orchard was thinned 
by taking out each alternate diagonal row of trees. The elder 
Mr. Chapin was one of the first to spray with insecticides, but the 
all important point, as it now appears, spraying with Bordeaux 
mixture, has been neglected. An apparent contradiction to this 
statement is found in an old orchard not a quarter of a mile dis- 
tant, that has never been sprayed and has been in sod for years, 
yet there are very few cankered limbs in any of the trees. It may 
be mentioned, however, that this orchard is located on a different 
slope of land and on poorer soil. The soil of the Chapin orchard 
is for the most part deep and rich and has produced a vigorous 
growth so that now the trees are very large. 
Severe and unintelligent pruning has also been given as the 
cause of the presence of canker in this as well as other 
orchards. While it is admitted that misuse of any kind may favor 
the development of the canker fungus indirectly, yet the answer 
to the specific statement is found in the fact that unpruned seed- 
ling apple trees are found in wood pastures that are badly attacked 
by the canker fungus. 
In the preliminary studies of the canker certain large, dark 
colored spores were found, which were at the time supposed to 
come from some saprophyte; however, cultures were made from 
them. Agar plate cultures were also made from the diseased 
