10 CONTROL OF PEACH BROWN-ROT AND SCAB. 



in 1888 at 800,000 baskets (of five-eighths of a bushel) , worth $400,000, 

 which he considered a very conservative estimate. The same writer 

 states that the following spring (April and May, 1889) this section 

 experienced an outbreak of the brown-rot on the blossoms and young 

 fruits which destroyed the greater part of the peach crop in four 

 counties, resulting in a loss of at least 500,000 baskets. 



Dr. C. P. Clinton reports that in Connecticut "brown-rot of 

 peaches and plums is always present at harvest time, some seasons 

 becoming so prevalent that it sweeps away a large part of the profits 

 in a few days." The same may be said of the prevalence of this dis- 

 ease in Michigan, Missouri, Arkansas, and in other peach-growing 

 States. 



In California, Prof. Ralph E. Smith 6 reported that during 1905 

 and 1906 the brown-rot was "quite abundant and destructive on 

 apricots, some plums, and early peaches, especially near the coast." 

 It has also been reported from Oregon by Prof. A. B. Cordley c as 

 causing excessive rotting of plums in 1897 and 1898 and to a less 

 extent affecting peaches. 



The effect of this disease does not cease with the fruit growers, but 

 is felt by the transportation companies, the commission men, and 

 the consumers. Although the fruit may be carefully sorted at the 

 packing house and only sound specimens packed, the disease often 

 continues to develop en route to market, especially if the refrigera- 

 tion is not good. In an orchard when 1 the disease is prevalent, the 

 healthy fruits easily become contaminated through handling by the 

 pickers and packers, and enough moisture develops in the car through 

 the "sweating" of the fruit to germinate the spores. It thus not 

 infrequently happens that peaches from the Southern States reach 

 the market "specked" and must be sold at half the value of sound 

 fruit. The commission man is often blamed by the shipper for the 

 low returns received, when the trouble is really due to brown-rot. 

 On several different occasions the senior writer has been in the New 

 York market when from thirty to over a hundred cars of southern 

 peaches were sold from 2 to 6 o'clock in the morning and 25 to 50 per 

 cent of the fruit from a large number of these cars was found to be 

 affected with brown-rot. In recent years this condition has so often 

 prevailed that the board of health of New York City deemed it neces- 

 sary to designate a special health officer whose duty is to inspect the 

 fruit as it is unloaded from the cars and prohibit the sale of such as 

 is badly affected with brown-rot. Fruit arriving in poor condition 

 demoralizes the market to such an extent that where 50 cars of sound 



a Report, Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, 1903, p. 286. 

 b Bulletin 184, California Agricultural Experiment Station, p. 248. 

 c Bulletin 57, Oregon Agricultural Experiment Station, pp. 3-5. 

 174 



