APPLE DISEASES 



105 



For the past twenty years the prevalence of the trouble has 

 been noticed commonly along the Atlantic seaboard south of the 

 New England states. But the disease occurs elsewhere; it is 

 found in Canada as far north as Quebec, and is well known 

 throughout the eastern, middle and western states. It was 

 unusually common in 1902 in Rhode Island and Connecticut. 

 Again in 1906 an outbreak occurred in these and surrounding 

 states, particularly in New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, 

 West Virginia and eastern Nebraska. Special notice of it was 

 made in Ohio about 1890 and in the subsequent years 1896 and 

 1909. The disease was very prevalent in New York in 1915. 

 It was first recorded 

 from the state of 

 Washington in 1907. 

 In 1910, authorities 

 claim, sooty-blotch 

 was first recorded in 

 England. 



Symptoms. 



The names sooty- 

 blotch and fly-speck 

 adequately describe 

 the appearance and 

 effects of this disease. 

 The blotches (Fig. 28) 

 are abundant in the 

 months of July and 

 August. They are irregular in outline, tending to be circular. 

 At first the color is pale, but later, as the name suggests, the 

 color is a sooty-brown or black. On account of the appearance 

 of affected fruit, dealers often call it the cloud or clouded fruit 

 (Fig. 28) . Single spots measure from one-fourth to one-half of 

 an inch in diameter; often several lesions coalesce, covering 

 the apple as if with soot. Spots exhibit a radiating structure 



FIG. 28. Sooty-blotch. 



