152 QUINCE CULTURE. 
less than half grown. Almost invariably the first signs 
of the rot are to be found at the blossom end of the 
quince, and from there it rapidly extends throughout 
the whole fruit. At first the skin, losing its normal 
green color, turns to a light brown, and shortly after 
this the dark pimples appear, scattered in the tissue 
close beneath the skin, which is ruptured when the 
spores are matured. The ripe spores are olive brown, 
about twice as long as broad, and form long, slender 
coils as they are pushed out of the small hole in the 
skin, They ihe minate quickly in water, and therefore 
render it easy to inocu- 
late healthy fruit with 
the fungus. An infest- 
ed quince of small size 
is shown in Fig. 141. 
Some years ago the 
® writer made a study of 
q the spheropsis of the 
apple and pear along 
with that of the quince, 
and as the spores are 
the same in size, the 
Fig. 141. QUINCE AFFECTED WITH coloration alike in all, 
BLACK ROT. and inoculations easy 
from one kind of fruit to another, it is safe to conclude 
that the three are all the same. 
A field observation in this connection bears directly 
upon the results above stated, and has a practical value 
that the orchardist will quickly appreciate. A large 
apple tree stands in an orchard surrounded on three - 
sides by quince trees. The fruit, not of the best, is per- 
mitted to drop and accumulate upon the ground in mid- 
summer, it being an early autumn sort. These fallen 
apples in 1890 were badly infested with the spheropsis, 
as also frequently the fruit upon the tree. It was a 
