88 



State Horticultural Society. 



same virulence year after year, being very severe in years when the 

 latter part of the summer is hot and wet, less so in dry, cooler sum- 

 mers. 



."?*^ 



WEsttT^K Fruit Grov/er. 



APPLES AFFECTED WITH BITTER ROT. 



The appearance of fruit affected with this disease is a familiar 

 one to the orchardist of this state. In the last ten years, with the 

 ever increasing acreage of apple orchards, there has been an apparent 

 increase of bitter rot, but this is due, largely, I believe, to the great- 

 er number of apple trees grown. -Late in the summer, usuallA^. the 

 latter part, of August, when the apples are almost full grown^ 

 and ready to harvest, the fruit shows little brown spots. If 

 the weather is warm, and in a damp atmosphere such as char- 

 acterizes many sultry days in the southern parts of this State,. 

 these spots very rapidly increase in diameter, looking like al- 

 most perfect circles. The spots, when almost as large as a 

 five-cent piece, appear blacker toward the center than on the outside,. 

 and the whole area is somewhat depressed. At about this period small 

 black knobs, about the. size of a pin head begin to appear near the 

 middle of the diseased spot, and as the latter continues to grow these 

 black elevations increase in number, new ones appearing farther from 

 the center. (Note illustration shown herewith.) If but one decayed 

 spot has started on a fruit, it grows until it touches the stem on one 

 side and the cal3^x leaves on the other, then gradually circles around 

 the fruit until the whole apple is a black mass. The fleshy portion of 

 the fruit, under the decayed spots is solft and mushy, and has ver} 

 little taste, hence the name "bitter rot." Where there are two or more 

 initial spots, the whole apple turns to the dark brown mass very much 

 sooner. The little black spots in the center of the decayed areas by 



