The citizen. (Frederick City, Md.) 1895-1923, 1901-06-07
CANTALOUPE BLIGHT.
The Symptoms, Causes and
how to Prevent it.


cultural College has issued bul.
letin No. 30, by Charles O. Town
send, State Pathologist, telling
of the above disease to the can.
taloupe, which is soon to be on
the market and which is grown
in great abundance and perfec-
ton in this county, and how to
treat the same. He says:
The cantaloupe blight is not a
new disease but owing to the ra-
pidity with which the cantaloupe
industry has developed in this
State within the past two years,
this troublesome disease has be-
come much more destructive. The
effect of the blight is to cause
the leaves and vines to wither
and die making it impossible for
the melons to mature. Last year
whole fields covered with thou
sands OF cantalOupes in all stages
of development were abandoned
soon after the shipping season
began for the reason that the
vines were so severely injured by
the blight that the melons were
decidedly under size and without
proper flavor. \ large part of
the material that enters into the
composition of the fruit is made
in the leaf, hence any injury to
the leaves must as a result reduce
the size aud quality OF the
melons.
The first appearance of the
blight is the presence of small
brown spots OF the leaves. These
spots increase in size and in mum
Der until the whole leaf. or even
all of ;he leaves on the plant be.
come brown and look as if they
had been scorched. When the
disease has reached this stage it
is impossible to repair the dam
age. If any thing is to be done
it should be undertaken before
the disease makes it appearance,
or at least i'll its very first stage.
1t is impossible to predict whether
or not the blight will appear dur
ing any season. AS a rule it is
more destructive during a damp,
than during dry season, and
since the weather conditions can
not be foretold for any consider
able length of time it is impor-
tant that all possible precautions
be taken to prevent the disease
from becoming established
Cantaloupe blight is caused by
a thread-lllle fungus (.NacroSpor-
ium cNrcHmerjam) that grows into
the leaf and destroys the tissues
causing them to turn brown.
The brown spots do not appear
until some time after the fungus
has grown into its leaves, and for
this reason the treatment should
be begun, if possible before the
brown spots appear. Each Sepa-
rate spot is produced by fungus
spore that lodges upon the leaf
and under proper conditions de
velOps into fungus growth.
These thread fungi soon produce
new spores that are carried by
the wind from leaf to leaf and
from plant to plant until often
the whole field becomes diseased.
The control of this pest con
Sists in the use of fungicide
that will prevent the spores from
terminating. The best fungicide,
probably, for this purpose is Bor-
deauX mixture. 1t would be adj
vlsable to prepare the mixture
for this purpose in the usual way,
except that four pounds OF blue
stone and six pounds of lime be
used i'll each fifty gallons of
water. When thoroughly APP
piled to the leaves it is removed
with difficulty. Improperly pre-
pared Bordeaux mixture poorly
applied will not prevent the
blight, but when properly made
and thoroughly applied at sutfi.
GENTLY frequent intervals, there
is no doubt about the ability of
this fungicide to control this pest.
1t is impossible to give the date
on which the first spraying should
be made since this is controlled
to a considerable extent by
weather conditions, as rule it
will be safe to make the first ap-
plicatiOn as soon as the vines be.
gin to run. The spraying should
be repeated every week or ten
days i'll order to keep the new
growth well protected. On small
areas the spraying may be done
with knapsack sprayer, but for
fields barrel or tank mounted
on a wagon is most convenient.
The matter of spraying should
be taken into account when the
field is planted so that the
work can be done with the least
expenditure of time and labor.
The rows should extend the long
WAY of tha field and Shnnld hn