EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETINS. 



363 



This mold has been recently noted by Eustace as causing a great destruction 

 of packed apples in New York. It has also proven a very serious cause of decay 

 in this state during the past season. Greenings seem to be especially liable to 

 its attacks although it has appeared abundantly on some other varieties. This 

 fungus attacks the fruit in the wounds caused by apple scab, causing at first a 

 brown discolored area around the scab. Soon the spot becomes partly covered 

 with a ]iinkish moldy outgrowth of si)ore producing threads. The outbreaks 

 of this fungus have been associated with two successive seasons of cool moist 

 weather and may ordinarily not prove so destructive during years when such 

 conditions are less prevalent. However, it may be expected to appear on badly 

 scabbed fruit. 



rig. 16. — The pink mold fungus liighly magnified; a, mycelium, giving rise to^ spore stalks, each 

 bearing a cluster of spores at its apex; b, spores more higlily magnified.^ (Original.) 



PREVENTION AND TREATMENT. 



The manner in which the fungi causing soft rot enter their hosts, namely 

 through wounds or ruptures in the skin of the fruit, emphasize the need of 

 keeping this protective covering as whole and sound as possible. Thus spraying 

 with fungicides to reduce scab and with insecticides to keep off insect enemies 

 which bite or bore into the fruit will greatly lessen the attacks by the soft rot 

 fungi. Care in handling so as not to bruise or break the skin of fruit is also 

 necessary to prevent loss from these sources. Cold storage, keeping the tem- 

 perature below 45 degrees F. is also a valuable means of keeping fruit. Experi- 

 ments in the dipping of apples in solutions of formalin, and exposing them to 

 sulphur fumes have thus far failed to prevent the rotting of fruit thus treated. 

 Similar experiments by others with copper sulphate solution and formalin have 

 also shown that while some rots like the pink mold may be reduced, the blue 

 mold is apparently not checked by such treatment. Frequent sorting of fruit 

 in storage, removing all decaying specimens, also tends to decrease the loss from 

 this cause. 



