432 Brooks : The Fruit Spot of apples 



cate that they might be the result of some abnormal loss of water 



from the apple tissue. 



The writer's observations give him no reason to conclude that 

 the Fruit Pit is of common occurrence in New England. Within 

 the last three years he has seen it on but one lot of New Hamp- 

 shire apples. In this case the disease developed in cellar storage 

 on some very large Baldwins that had been picked early in the 

 fall. Frequent visits to the Boston markets for a study of spotted 

 apples convince him that it is of rare occurrence on the fruit 

 shipped to that city. Within the past year he has also made an 

 unsuccessful search for specimens of Fruit Pit in the markets of 

 Buffalo, Chicago, Toronto, and Montreal. He has recently had 

 the privilege of making a study of the disease on apples from Maine, 

 Michigan, and New York, from Ottawa, Canada, and from Cape 

 Town, Africa. The specimens from all these sources had the char- 

 acteristics previously given. 



The Fruit Spot of apples 

 Occurrence and morphology. — This disease is very common in 

 New Hampshire and in the Boston markets one can often find 

 barrels of apples shipped from various sections of New England in 



It occurs on 



nd 



almost every variety of apple but is worst on the Baldwins, a 

 the following statements apply especially to the conditions as seen 

 on that variety. The disease appears about the middle of August 

 At this time one may notice spots of a deeper red on the colore 

 surface of the apple and of a darker green on the lighter portion 

 They are but slightly sunken if at all and there is no suggestion o^ 

 a bruise (plate 29, figure i). They usually occur at a lentice 

 but are sometimes covered with a smooth and apparently unbro 'e 

 epidermis. The number on the blossom half of the apple is usua y 

 from two to ten times as great as that on the stem half. A p 

 of this contrast might be accounted for by the difference m 

 number of lenticels on the two halves of the apple (see page 4 2 9h 

 but must be partly due to some other cause. As the season a 

 vances the spots become more prominent (plate 29, FIGURE .£ 

 On the red fruit surfaces they become more sunken and t e 

 color gradually changes from red to brown or black. A 



