30 



without the slightest visible speck, were found to have from 5 to 

 25 per cent, of specked fruit when they arrived in the Boston mar- 

 ket. Specimens taken to the laboratory and kept under conditions 

 similar to those of lemons packed in a crate developed spots vary- 

 ing in size up to three-fourths of an inch in diameter. Every 

 lemon thus spotted is rendered worthless for commercial purposes, 

 nor is the entire loss represented by the percentage of specked 

 lemons, since aerate of lemons containing even a small percentage 

 of specked fruit can not be sold except at a liberal discount or after 

 the additional expense of repacking. 



When specked lemons are placed in a moist chamber the fungus 

 develops very rapidly and produces a great quantity of sporesj 

 The lemons under these conditions give out a peculiar mouldy citric 

 odour. It not infrequently happens that sufficient moisture is pro- 

 duced in transit to market to permit a very full development of 

 spores. In storage especially this is true. 



► THE COLOLRIXG BED. 



The very considerable loss sustained as the result of curing 

 lemons in a house caused it to be suspected that the curing house 

 was at fault in this matter. Curing beds were therefore prepared. 

 These are made by selecting a position that is high and dry, 

 clearing off the land, and smoothing its surface. This is then 

 covered with hay or some other soft material. The picked lemons 

 are placed upon this bed to a depth of a foot or more, and are 

 covered with hay or similar material to a sufficient depth to keep 

 out the light, In this bed the lemons go through a curing process 

 very similar to that of the curing house. The temperature being 

 much lower and the possibility of regulating it being removed, the 

 process is much less certain and less satisfactory than in the curing 

 house, the lemons not curing uniformly. In these curing beds the 

 spotting of the lemons goes on in very much the same way as in 

 the curing house. The time elapsing between placing the lemons 

 in the curing bed and removing them from it is considerably longer 

 than in the curing house ; consequently a greater percentage of 

 the lemons infected with Colletotrichum show spots, and the fungus 

 has time to develop larger spots, which makes it less difficult to 

 detect the diseased lemons. As a consequence fewer lemons in- 

 fected with the fungus pass the graders and packers, and a smaller 

 percentage is lost after being shipped. 



ORANGE AND GRAPE FRUIT. 



LEAF-SPOT. 



The first point of attack is in the leaf. The development of 

 the fungus takes various peculiar forms. At times the acervuli 

 are distributed in a more or less regular way from a centre resem- 

 bling " fairy rings." At other times the infection takes place in 

 the tip of the leaf, which gradually withers back to the stem. 

 Small trees may be defoliated and the fungus continue to develop 

 in the twigs. 



