588 



State Horticultural Society. 



It hat been found that there is a close relation between the degree 

 of maturity of the fruit when picked and its subsequent susceptibility to 

 scald. Apple scald is one of the most serious difificulties with which the 

 fruit storer has to contend. The nature of the trouble is not well under- 

 stood, but it is supposed to be caused by a ferment called an enzyme. It 

 is not a contagious disease and is in no way connected with the action 

 ■of parasitic organisms, such as mould or bacteria. It appears to be 

 closely connected with the changes that occur in ripening after the fruit 

 is picked, and is most injurious in its efifects as the fruit approaches the 

 <:'nd of its life. 



The scald always appears first on the green or less mature side of 

 an apple. The portions grown in the shade, and under-colored are there- 

 fore most seriously affected. When the apple crop is picked before it is 

 mature the fruit is more susceptible to scald than it would have been later 

 in the season. The relative susceptibility of immature and more mature 

 apples is brought out in the following table : 



SCALD ON MATURE AND IMMATURE APPLES. 



Variety and locality grown. 



Baldwin. New York 



Ben Davis, Illinois 



Ben Davis, Virginia 



Rhode Island Greening, New Yorlc 



Winesap. Illinois 



Yellow Newtown. V'^irginia 



Yorlf Imperial, Virginia 



Average 



6 .9 



In the practical handling of orchards the fundamental corrective of 

 scald lies in practicing those cultural and harvesting methods that de- 

 velop maturity and a highly colored fruit. The picking of the fruit when 

 too green, dense-headed trees that shut out the sunlight, heavy soil, a 

 location or season that causes the fruit to mature later than usual and 

 makes it still green at picking time — these are among the conditions that 

 make it particularly susceptible to the development of the scald. 



INFLUENCE OF DELAYING THE STORAGE OF THE FRUIT. 



The reinoval of an apple from the tree hastens its ripening. After 

 picking the fruit matures more rapidly than it does when growing on the 

 tree and maturing at the same time. The rapidity of ripening increases 

 as the temperature rises, and the more mature the fruit when picked 

 the less rapidly the m'aturing processes seem to progress. Fruit that is 



