STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 49 



over again. Hence, we should remove and burn all spore 

 producing material. This should be supplemented by spraying, 

 to cover the healthy portions of the tree with a material like 

 bordeaux mixture, which is fatal to fungus spores whenever 

 they come in contact with it. 



As might be expected, we find that apple scab in Maine is 

 responsible for more loss in dollars and cents than is any other 

 fungus. The loss from this disease is largely in reducing the 

 percent of No. i apples and not in the destruction of the fruit, 

 as is the case of most fruit parasites. However, scab may open 

 an avenue for entrance of other fungi, like the pink rot, which 

 do cause decay. Last winter we had a manifestation of the 

 work of the apple scab fungus which was new to most of us. 

 Ordinarily there is no marked development of scab after the 

 apples are picked, but a year ago following a very wet sum- 

 mer, in many cases No i apples taken out of storage after sev- 

 eral weeks were found to be covered with many minute black 

 spots the size of a pin head and smaller. These did not appear 

 to be characteristic of apple scab but examination showed this 

 fungus to be apparently the only one present. It is probable 

 that most of this trouble could have been prevented by proper 

 spraying during the summer. Scab may also do considerable 

 injury to the leaves of certain varieties of apple trees, even caus- 

 ing defoliation. It is safe to say that 75 to 95 per cent of the 

 loss from the scab fungi might be avoided by proper spraying. 



The black rot fungus without doubt is entitled to second place 

 as to distribution and destructiveness. It causes a complete 

 and rapid decay of the fruit, often while still on the trees ; it 

 is claimed to be responsible for serious injury to the leaves by 

 spotting, thus weakening the entire tree, and in Maine it causes 

 our most common canker on the limbs. Black rot on the fruit 

 is easily recognized. It first appears as a light brown circular 

 decayed spot on the surface of the apple which rapidly widens 

 showing rings or zones. Later this decayed area becomes 

 darker and concentric circles of little black dots appear, begin- 

 ning near the center and working outward. Still later the black 

 spots may extend pretty well over the surface and the skin 

 becomes wrinkled and often quite black in places. The little 

 spots are the fruiting portion of the fungus and contain hun- 



