51 



MOULDY CORE OF THE APPLE. 



IN 1892 attention was called in this magazine to a feature of the 

 apple that has much to do with its keeping qualities, namely, the 

 presence or absence of a channel leading from the eye of the fruit to 

 the core chambers. An apple having such a channel was figured, and 

 pointed attention was called to the desirability of excluding from our 

 export apples, and other supposedly good-keeping sorts, all varieties 

 that* presented this feature in such a pronounced manner as to endanger 

 the keeping qualities. I am sorry to record my opinion that we have 

 made little progress in this direction in the last ten years. So far as 

 1 can see matters stand about where they formerly stood, and yet |;he 

 point is one of much importance to the apple industry. 



The facts of the case are as follows : This open channel leading to 

 the core cavities is nothing more or less 

 than a cordial invitation to diseases to enter 

 and make themselves at home. It is a 

 royal road for the codlin moth larva, as well 

 .as for other small insect pests such as the 

 woolly aphis. It affords fine protection for 

 the red spider, and it is the regular road 

 for the attacks of various fungi. 



The fungi making use of this weak point 

 in the structure of the apple are of several 

 rsorts, such as the common bread moulds, pig. 65. Mouldy core. -section of an 

 Penicillium and Mucor, and doubtless some fs^S 



Other leSS Common moulds. The Species Of core . cavities, from which a dark 



, n . . pi i rot 1S spreading outwards towards 



mould is not so important, tor the result is the skin. 

 the same in either case, namely, the destruc- 

 tion of the apple by the disease to which I originally gave the name 

 of Mouldy Core. 



This is a diseased condition brought about by the presence of common 

 mould in the core of certain varieties of apple. Outwardly such 

 apples often appear to be quite sound ; but on cutting them in halves 

 the cores are found to be in a mouldy or half-rotten state. This, 

 however, is only the beginning of the trouble, for sooner or later the 

 whole apple becomes rotten and worthless. The rot arising from this 

 cause has an appearance different from that of ripe rot, inasmuch 

 as there are no concentrically arranged pustules ; and, furthermore, 

 this rot works from the centre of the apple outward, instead of 

 beginning as a spot on the surface and working inward. 



The way in which the mould gains an entrance to the core of the 

 apple will be seen at once if one of the diseased apples be split into 

 halves with a sharp knife. It will be found that the blossom end is 

 open so as to form a passage leading to the core. Ordinarily, only 

 the varieties with open blossom ends are subject to this disease. The 

 course of the disease is as follows : The spores of common mould 

 coming in contact with the surface of an apple with an open blossom 

 end, first adhere, then germinate, and send their threads into the 



