Newspapers / The Herald-Sun (Durham, N.C.) / Dec. 5, 1915, edition 1 / Page 14
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hUiHIU.I.! illl.l.llMIII 11111 . 1 ' 1 THE MORNING HERALE, DECEMBER 5, 1915 ', PAGE TWO" i I Autumn flmharrl Wnrlr I Iiimiwiiiii viwiiuiu if will 1 " 1 II . y Washington, D. C, Dec. 4. In the tnanagoment of the orchard, especial - Jy the apple and pear orchard, there '.Ha period in-the autumn after the t - fruit is gathered, and perhaps after ther cropg have been safely, har- . Tested, that is most convenient for i doing some off the careful work in the control of certain diseases and pests. The control of peach borers ' and insect pests and fall spraying for 5 Ban Jose scale have been discussed r i in a previous article. There are cer . tain fungous and bacterial diseases, ' particularly pear blight and apple canker, which are best worked upon at this time. These diseases are prin cipally controlled by the eradication .'methods rather than by spraying. " .With both these- diseases it is not . only a matter of convenience but it is ' k fortunate thing that some of the most important work of the season can be best accomplished at the time When it Is most convenient. The mild ' autumn days before the snow flies or disagreeable, rainy, or cold weather comes gives the very best opportuni ty for careful work and close inspec tion. PEAR BLIGHT. - Pear blight is a bacterial disease which works mostly in the fleshy, growing, tender parts of the tree, in cluding the blossom clusters, young twigs, and the bark of larger branch -its, and even on the sody, collar, and "root system of the tree. Under cer taln conditions the bacteria spread ,. Into the wood to a considerable ex tant. The disease attacks the pear, v apple, quince and other related fruits .of the pome family. While the leaves fr6 attacked to some extent, particu- laxly the leaf stems and midribs of and not be seriously or permanently Injured, while a single case of body blight or collar blight may result in its death. Each infection is to be looked upon as a definite, limited, diseased area. The part attacked is usually destroyed, though the disease may occur in theOuter fleshy bark of the limbs and branches without al ways penetrating to the cambium. When the cambium or vital layer be tween the wood and bark is killed, death of that particular area, of course, results. SECONDARY CONTROL MEAS URES. For various reasons spraying has not been practically successful in controlling the disease. The eradi- j cation method, or actually cutting out the diseased area, is the principal way of controlling, pear blight. Other methods, such as withholding stable manure and nitrogenous fertilizers, moderate cultivation or withholding it completely, seeding the orchard down to grass or clover, or sowing rank growing clover crops after the blight appears in the spring, such as cowpeas and sorghum in the middle states, oats, millet, or similar crops in the northern states, all help in secondary way in reducing the se verity of the blight. In the irrigat ed orchards the use of the minimum amount of irrigation water is also ad visable. DIRECT ERADICATION. The main method of controlling pear blight, however, consists in cut ting out the diseased tissues where ever found and disinfecting the wound and the instruments to avoid spread ing the disease. In the great majori "the younger leaves, the main killing 6f the foliage results from the deat of the twigs and branches on which . the leaves are located. The dead tranches and other parts give no ev , Jdence to the naked eye of the cause of their death and thus resemble omewhat limbs .killed by fire; hence the name fire blight, particularly with blight on the apple, is often ap plied. i HOW THE TREE. IS INTIEOTED, The germs get iritrthe tree in sev iral ways. First andmost impor- 0,tant is the blossom blight. . Flies and ..other insects carry the germs from the gummy exudate on the hold-over '-. I; light to the opening blossoms and Infect the nectaries of the flower. Bees and other insects carry the .- germs from blossom to blossom and ';tree to tree, and even to adjacent . orchards and spread the disease rap . Jdly during the blooming period. Dur- , " Ing the present season pear blight has leen particularly bad, especially the blossom blight on both pears and ap : pies. The outbreak of 1915 stands out as one of the worst in history, particularly on acconnt of the unus nal amount of blossom blight on the apple. v. Next in importance after the bios . som blight, and in some cases the most serious phase of the disease. Is j toe infection of the tender tips of trowing twigs. Thousands of these .. young twigs may be killed on a sin :.fle large apple or pear tree. The blight may extend from the infec tions on the blossoms or from twigs '.down on to the larger branches, thence to the body of the tree. The branches, bodies, and more particu lar the collar and even the root ajratem of the tree, may be infected .dSrectly by the germs. The infec tion may come from a fruit spur, wa ter sprout, or even a sprout from the toot, or the germs may be introduced by punctures by insects, birds, imple- jAents, or other means, directly into : tne fleshy, bark, or even may enter, la certain cases, through growth ' pranks. Ordinarily the cuticle of the tfee protects it from the entrance of the germs, otherwise there would be snack more destruction of trees than actually occurs. ,Each infection, no matter where it occurs, should be looked upon as an Individual case of pear blight The diseases resulting from the Various modes of attack for convenience are given various names, such as blossom Wight, twig blight, body blight, col lar light, and root blight The low- ,ar- down on the tree, as a rule, the . anore dangerous is the blight The :ree may have a thousand or more twigs and blossoms killed in the top Do It Todav a Co to either the fountains of King, Book Store, Main Street Pharmacy or Carrington Roflera and ask for a Charlotte Russe Today Ala cal up our place and get a delicious dessert for dinner today. Charlotte Russe, and all kinds of lea Cream in bulk or fancy shapes. Ice Cream and Whipped Cream Meran-fuea. Varren ; Creamery . iComp.'ny . . PH ON l 171. I ty of cases,, fortunately the blight comes to a definite standstill In . the bark, after killing a certain distance, and stops. The germs die out in the dead bark, a crack or crevice forms between the live and dead bark, and the case ends itself naturally and heals out. In many cases, however, the disease, while dying out in the older parts, keeps on spreading on the margin, the germs renewing them selves by multiplication and infecting new areas of fresh bark. When they manage to live through the dry, hot summer weather and keep alive until autumn, when the leaves drop from the trees, they almost invariably live over winter, and though greatly checked by the cold weather of the winter, are not killed or apparently even injured by the cold. Such cases become hold-over blight, and by this means the supply of germs is kept over in the orchard for the next sea son. The hold-over blight cases may extend considerably and result in further damage to the tree by the ex tension of that particular area, but their worst feature comes from the fact that they supply the gummy ex udate and the virus for new infections on the blossoms the following spring. When warm weather comes In the spring and root pressure fills the tree with sap the hold-over cases start off vigorously and exude the gummy matter, especially in moist weather literally teeming with the pear- blight bacilli. Insects, mainly' flies carry this to the opening blossoms. Cutting out pear blight, therefore has a double purpose, first of stop ping the blight and cleaning up the tree, and second of preventing the hold over. Much good work on blight can be done in the summer time, but the final cleanup should occur in th fall. Summer cutting beginning as soon as the blossom blight show! plainly and continuing until the fruit is about half grown, is helpful. The best time to do it is in periods of dry sunny weather. On young trees it is often very important particularly or. young pear and apple trees, to heac. off the blight by cutting well belov it as soon as it shows up in the spring and summer. EXAMINE BARK THOROUGHLY. In all bl'ght cutting, either summe- or autumn, it is important to examine thoroughly by cutting the bark around the lower edge of the infection to de termine the lowest point at whicl any change of color, even a water soaked or transparent condition, car be detected with the eye. Young o active blight on the lower margin is readily distinguished by its moist, gummy or sticky character and eithe: water-soaked or usually reddish dis coloration of the bark. This is ir rather marked contrast with the dry dead bark where the germs have died out. Having found the lowest mar gin of the disease, if it is on a limb, the knife, pruning shears, or saw 1: used, cutting well below the infec tion. If the disease has stopped ant the dead, dry bark is sharply deflnec in contrast with the live portion, th( cut may be made quite close belov the margin, or it may be made wherr any convenient branch emerges o where the limb leaves the main brand or the trunk. If the freshly blighted area is short and the blend is rathe abrupt between the dead and live por t on, the cut may be also made rathe close to the diseased area as requir ed by the nature of the branch. Si; inches may be sufficient in such cases but the cut should always be made o to sound bark and wood. If the sa is used it is always desirable after ward to trim the edges of the barl and the surfaces of the saw cut ot the wood with a sharp knife to se: if the whole surface is normal. If i water-soaked appearance is founr' even on the surface of the wood, this indicates teat the germs have Den j etrated the woody vessels and a low er cut Is necessary, repeating th. same process. A Urge-Waded pocket knife, t scraper, and a three-fourths Inch car pouter's gouge, kept well sharpened aro useful la cutting out the bark oc these areas. The same principles of looking for watersoaked areas in the wood should be applied here,' and the gouge, or perhaps the chisel, used to remove all suspicious wood and bark. The edees of the bark should be trim med smoothly and1 neatly,' so that they can be readily . disinfected and heal ing of the wound can properly take place UISE DISINFECTANTS. In all cases of blight cutting de scribed above, a disinfectant should be carried constantly by the work er and each pruning wound or scar should be thoroughly wiped and sat urated with this disinfetant and the tools wiped and cleaned with disin fectant before going to the next case Disinfection of the tools 'before they are used again on any other part of the tree is necessary to Insure suc cess, as Infected, tools may carry blight from diseased to healthy parts Various disinfectants may be used. One of the most convenient is a wa ter solution of corrosive sublimate (1-1,000). Tablets can be purchased at the drug store which will make this strength by .adding one tablet to a pint of water. The solution should be kept in & bottle with a cork and the operator should carry a sponge or roll of soft cotton cloth for saturating with the distinfectant and for wiping the wounds and im plements. The most convenient way is to have a small kit or a basket and carry all the tools, including the bottle of disinfectant in this kit. The sponge or swab of cotton cloth can be tied to a stout string about arm's length and fastened to a buttonhole or the operator's clothing. Caution Corrosive sublimate is a deadly poison. The tablets and the bottle of disinfectant should be so la beled plainly and should be kept away , from children and other persons, and the bottle , of solution, when not in use, being very inexpensive, should be emptied. Corrosive sublimate is a" powerful germicide, but does not penetrate deeply. It does not Kill the cut edges likewise a good germicide. These so lutions should always be kept in glass bottles or otherwise chemically clean containers. They should never ibe put in tin cans or metal containers of any sort, since the solutions are de composed and rendered inert by met als. The water used should be rea sonably clean and the ' sponge or swab should he kept clean by occa sional 'washing. HINTS FOR EFFECTIVE WORK. Begin operations at the base of the tree and. work upward, otherwise a lot of time and careful work may be wasted on the upper part of a branch which it is later found necessary to remove,- or body blight or even collar blight found later on the tree may cause it to be condemned. In some cases there is a limit to the amount of work which the grower is willing to do to save a tree. The blight should be removed even if it necessitates condemning the tree and rooting it out. A tree partly injured by collar blight may be cleaned up and saved. This often requires digging the dirt away and working partly under ground. It is necessary, however, to follow the margin of the disease, ev en if it carries you into the ground, just as if you were tracing the boun daries of an Island. It is usually best to condemn a tree girdled by collar blight. It is possible, however, after doing thorough work of eradication with a rather mild case of collar blight, to bridge graft and thus save the tree by the same process used in bridge grafting a tree girdled by mice or other animals. Collar blight can beat be detected in the autumn, just before the pear or apple trees shed their leaves. This and similar injuries to the collar of a tree will cause the leaves to yel low and assume bronze or autumn colors and even drop, while those on the normal, healthy trees are still green. Other troubles, such as in juries by mice, frost collar girdle, and fungus root rot cause similar symptoms, but these symptoms should lead to an inspection of the collar. To inspect the collar of a tree or any doubtful point on the body or on large limbs, dig out with a carpen ter's gouge or a sharp knife a small piece of the outer bark, exposing an area of the fleshy bark the size of one's thumb nail. The cut should not be made through to the cambium and will do no Injury if the bark is all right at that point. Always do this with a disinfectant in hand and promptly disinfect the cut, other wise you may inoculate the blight or at least give an opportunity for inoc ulation. Keep the knife or gouge con tinually disinfected during this in spection. ' Do not be deceived . by the normal rough-bark formation, which con sists of the outer layers of bark which have died naturally. Fruit trees, fllke yother trees. ' keep tJieir bark smooth while yoiing and vig orous. As they get older the outer layers begin to die, -jelng replaced by Vigorous youna bark underneath. This process istairs mainly at tihe base of ithe tree and works upward, the oldest bark dying first It also (Continued on page seven.) i PAPER AND PAINT ,WE ARE PREPARED TO DO EVERYTHING IN THE PAINTING AND DECORATING ; BUSINESS. E. J. LONG PHONE 367. Hunting r Supplksi A New Telephone Directory See Pollard Brothers for Your IS ABOUT TO BE PUBLISHED. All people desiring telephones or changes will please notify the office at once so as to Set their names and numbers in: this issue. Hunting Coals Ammunition Leggins And Other Hunting Supplies Our East Window Will Give You an Idea as to the Completeness of our Stock Inter-Stafe Tel. and Tel. Company POLLARD BROTHERS The Big Christmas Hardware Store. Main and Parrish Streets. EES W J. J. LAWSON, Mgr. Corcoran Street t ' T ' ' ; - ; : MIM,WWMWamaaaM- .P.. in--- npM-MrHMM- - .mn . , ;,', ,M maw mir -aii - . n -n t 1 11 "' 1 ft' OLD SANTA IS MAKING THIS STORE HIS HEAD QUARTERS IN DURHAM FOR GOOD TOYS AT LOW PRICES. om : steels 2 Rocking Horses Children's Desks Children's Chairs- Toy Wheelbarrows Tricycles Doll Carriages Doll Trunks Doll Beds Toy Wagons for Boys Th large stock' of Brassvrare ve are showing will make useful gifts. . Jar- daniers, Cuspidors. Umbrella Stands, Costumers. - We have a big stock of Christmas goods and will be glad to show you. our window for suggestions Come in and let our salesmen serve 3'ou. See Opposite Postoffice.'
The Herald-Sun (Durham, N.C.)
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Dec. 5, 1915, edition 1
14
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