Winter Meeting. 283 



'^ 



in behalf of Central Wesleyan College, a hearty invitation to hold your 

 next Winter Meeting at Warrenton, AIo., a beautiful college town on the 

 ^\'abash railroad, situated sixty miles west of St. Louis. 



Buildings for your exhibits and meetings will be placed at your dis- 

 posal gratuitously and entertainment furnished at a low price* 



Yours respectfully, 



CENTRAL WESLEYAN COLLEGE. 

 ■\\'m. Koeneke, President Board of Trustees; J. M. Rinkel, Treasurer. 



BITTER ROT OR RIPE ROT OF APPLIES. 



(J. T. Stinson, State Fruit Experiment Station, ^Mountain Grove.) 



The damage done by bitter rot to the apple crop in South Missouri 

 this year was small compared with the loss caused by the disease last 

 year, when fully fifty per cent, of the apple crop of South Missouri was 

 damaged by the disease. The apple growers are much interested in 

 this subject, owing to the fact that the disease is largely controlled by 

 climatic conditions, and that they are liable to have a recurrance of 

 last year's loss any season, should the conditions be favorable for the 

 •development of the disease. It is a fungus, and hot weather is neces- 

 sary for the rapid development of the spores and the spread of the 

 disease, while cold weather checks it. 



The small round spots that appear on the surface of the apple 

 are usually easily distinguished fiom other diseases. The spots are 

 often not larger than a pin head when first noticed, and they increase 

 rapidly in size if the weather is extremely hot. Pustules appear in 

 the center of these spots when they are about the size of a silver 

 dime. These do not spread over the entire spot, but are massed near 

 the center, and it is through the pustules that the spores of the disease 

 reach the surface. The masses of spores that exude can sometimes 

 be seen with the naked eye, and when this accumulation is put under 

 the microscope it is found to be composed of a countless number of 

 spores. These spores are either blown away by the wind or are 

 washed off b}^ the rains. 



Last year we sent out from the Experiment Station a large num- 

 ber of circular letters of inquiry to the best informed fruit growers of 

 the State, for the purpose of collecting information regarding this 

 ■disease, and it was the general opinion of all of them that warm wea- 

 ther was necessar}- for its development and that cold weather checked 

 it. There was a difference of opinion, however, regarding the amount 

 of moisture necessary. In some of the reports it was stated that mois- 



