MAINE AGRICUI.TURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. IQIO. 407 



cayed fruit both on the trees and on the ground should be de- 

 stroyed. The spraying for apple scab will also help to control 

 this fungus. 



Pink rot. In some seasons, especially when it is warm and 

 wet at the time of harvesting, scabby apples are attacked by 

 a fungus Ccphalothecium roscum Cda., Fig. 73. This is 

 called pink rot on account of the appearance of the spots where 

 the fungus grows out to produce its spores. The fungus, usual- 

 ly a saprophyte, occurs on a large number of dead parts of 

 plants. Therefore, the material for the infection of apples is 

 present whenever the conditions are favorable for the growth 

 of this fungus. The fungus is unable to penetrate the unin- 

 jured epidermis of the apple and scab spots afford the chief 

 means of entrance. To avoid loss from pink rot it is necessary 

 to produce apples which are free from scab. 



Alternaria decay. A decay of apples caused by a species of 

 Alternaria was first described from Colorado by Longyear.* 

 This fungus entered the apple at the blossom end and produced 

 a cobwebby growth of mycelium around the seeds. An Alter- 

 naria has been found a number of times associated with apple 

 decays in Maine. This fungus usually occurs on injured places 

 such as the blossom end injured by insects or broken places in 

 the skin. Associated with other fungi this Alternaria forms a 

 rather thick, dry covering of mycelium over the injured place. 

 The fungus does not usually penetrate very deeply in such cases 

 but when ripe apples are inoculated from pure cultures, it is 

 found to be capable of causing a complete decay. This fungus 

 alone has been reisolated a number of times from decaying ap- 

 ples which had been inoculated, thus proving that it caused the 

 decay. The apple decay Alternaria differs sufficiently from a 

 species of the same genus which has been found repeatedly on 

 dead spots in apple leaves and on dead parts of other plants so 

 that the two fungi can be distinguished readily in culture. The 

 Alternaria from apple leaves has not been found to cause decay 

 of the fruit upon inoculation. 



Botrytis decay. A species of Botrytis causes a part of the 

 decay of apples in Maine. It has been found causing a rot of 

 early apples on the tree and inoculations have shown that' it not 

 only attacks ripe fruit but that it is capable of causing a rot of 



*Longyear, B. O. Col. Exp. Sta. Bui. 105. 1905. 



