Bitter Pit in Apples. 5 



Mr. French states that the insect has been known in Victoria 

 since 1845, and that in former years, though always looked on as 

 a nuisance, they had not given their attention to the destruc- 

 tion of apples till about the time his book was written. 



Besides occurring in Australia, bitter pit is common in various 

 parts of the world, and papers dealing with the subject are 

 recorded from America in 1891,1 and in subsequent years Mr. 

 Pole Evans'- enumerates the results of observations taken on 

 the disease in South Africa in 1904, and Sorauer,^ in 1909, 

 describes the trouble as one common in Europe. 



Farmer, in 1907, and Massee, in 1906,^ contribute articles in 

 the Kew Bulletin, in which the latter writes: — "It is perfectly 

 certain that the disease develops during transit in apples coming 

 to England from South Africa, Australia, etc., and the calyx end 

 of the fruit is most seriously injured.'" 



So far as experiments have been made, the nature of the soil 

 or manures do not seem to have a marked effect. The general 

 symptoms suggest the local presence of some substance which 

 kills the cells and prevents the transformation of starch into 

 sugar. These extracts, and, in fact, the whole trend of the 

 modem literature from all parts of the world, seem to show 

 that the trouble is apparently continually on the increase. 



History of Spraying Operations. 



These somewhat imperfect data regarding the origin of this 

 complaint are now to be followed by data regarding the history 

 of spraying operations, in practice more especially in Australia, 

 for the extinction of fungus and insect pests in orchards. 



Crichton,^ though he, as previously stated, makes no mention 

 of bitter pit, recommends the spraying of apples with solutions 

 of kerosene emulsion, London purple, and Paris green for the 

 extermination of codlin moth, one spraying to be given as soon 

 as a fruit has formed, and a second one two or three weeks 

 later. He also suggests the use of other solutions, such as 

 Bordeaux mixture, etc., as fungicides. 



1 Jones, L. R., Fifth Ann. Kept. Vermont State Expt. Station, 1891. y^"^ \ P ii'^^N. 



2 Transvaal Department of Agriculture, No. 1, July, 1909, p. 9. /^^^^-—-^S- ^^\ 



3 Handbuch der Pfianzen Krankheiten, 1909. fC^/^O^^ ^/^V-^V 



4 Kew Bull. No. 6, 1906. f'^/ilF "^ VCp\ 



5 Australian Fruit Culturist, Melbourne, 1883, p. 1'23. I^f ^^•»> •'•^' ^\ A 



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