58 



Black Rot or Alternaria of the Quince. 



The second disease of the quince to which attention will be directed 

 has at a distance some resemblance to that just described. It is- 

 characterised by the presence on the fruit of rotten spots of a dark 

 colour. In the present instance, however, the spots are very dark, 

 being of a greenish velvety black. This dark green velvety growth 

 may extend over the whole surface, involving the entire fruit in a kind of 

 dry rot. The velvety surface growth is composed of multitudes of 

 spores borne on short pedicels so crowded together as to closely resemble 

 the pile of velvet. The spores are of the form shown on this page and 

 are large enough to be seen with the aid of a good magnifying glass,. 

 appearing when placed on white paper as minute elongated specks. 

 The remedies that may be adopted in opposing this disease are the 



same as those for ripe rot. I will only add 

 that although in this case I have very good 

 reasons for thinking that several different 

 classes of vegetation are subject more or 

 less indifferently to the attacks of the same 

 fungi, my experiments are not yet of suf- 

 ficient completeness and importance to war- 

 rant their publication. They seem to be 

 of such weight, however, that I now make 

 them the basis of recommendations similar 

 to those relating to ripe rot. In particular, 



Fiff. 71. Alternaria of the quince. T -1-1 11 S. \ xi -j. 



Spores found growing naturally I would call attention to the necessity or 

 on the fruit of the quince. x4oo. destroying all growths of this dark velvety 



nature even where they occur on such 



remotely classed vegetation as, for instance, the cucumber tribe. It 

 not seldom happens that consumption fails to keep up with the growth 

 of the cucumber patch or with that of the tomato bed, and that the 

 ripened fruit or even the foliage of these vegetables bears fungi that 

 may be inimical to fruit trees in the vicinity. 



It is not always that the fungi referred to confine themselves to the 

 overripe fruit of these vegetables, as they are found also, as in the 

 case of squashes, on the young fruit and even the blossoms and, as 

 before remarked, on the foliage. I have already called attention in 

 the pages of this Gazette to a disease of young squashes that has 

 as its cause one of these fungi, characterised by a velvety surface 

 growth. As a slight further contribution in the same direction the 

 illustrations on this page and those immediately preceding are 

 inserted. 



STRAWBERRY LEAF BLIGHT. 



With the increase in the number of strawberries grown, there has 

 been an increase of the area over which this disease is known. It is 

 a blight in which prevention is more than usually practicable. It is 

 the only conspicuous disease of the foliage of this plant that is at all 

 common, and hence its earliest stages are easily discovered by the 

 watchful grower. (See Plate, opposite p. 26.) The plucking and 

 destruction of the earliest traces of the disease is a measure that pays 

 well. Care should be exercised while picking the diseased leaves not 



