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THE BROWN-ROT OF FRUIT. 



THIS is a rot of fruit caused by the fungus Monilia fructigena a rot 

 most prevalent under moist conditions and confined to no particular 

 kind of fruit, though it does most damage on cherries, peaches, and 

 plums. It will attack a great variety of ripe and ripening fruit, and 

 will even attack tender foliage under encouraging conditions. 



The Brown-rot has come under notice in this State from time to time 

 for a number of years, but it seems that it is only during our moist 

 seasons, or in our moist districts, that it is to be feared. The disease 

 appears with us to be quite as common on the cherry as on any other 

 fruit, and the damage done is sometimes considerable, though I have 

 never known of any such severe losses as have been reported in other 

 countries, where the destruction has sometimes reached enormous 

 proportions. Cases are on record where the losses from this disease 

 were variously estimated at from 50,000 to 100,000 in a single fruit- 

 raising district, and very serious losses on a smaller scale have been of 

 frequent occurrence. It appears that this fungus is one to be reckoned 

 with seriously if it should become an established pest in our orchard 

 districts. The portions of the State where it is most likely to do 

 damage are those having an abundant rainfall during the spring and 

 summer, and possessing the orchards necessary for its nourishment, 

 for we have no indigenous fruits upon which it is likely to flourish. 

 Those parts of the State best adapted to cherry growing are the parts 

 referred to. 



The appearance of the fungus causing the Brown-rot of fruit should 

 be well known to all observant fruit-growers. The softened fruit 

 becomes covered with a grayish growth of spores, in some respects 

 resembling the familiar green mould of bread, which is also frequently 

 to be seen on fruit. The grayish growth just mentioned is made up 

 largely of the spores of the fungus and it is these spores that are the 

 principal means of spreading the fungus, which, so far as its injurious- 

 ness to fruit is concerned, has a simple history. The spores from one 

 fruit are transferred to another and there set up the disease, which in 

 the course of a few days' time has so far advanced as to be able to 

 pass on to fresh victims. 



In another part of these letters, reference has been made to the Ripe- 

 rot, a rot that also attacks a great variety of fruits. In the case of 

 Eipe-rot it is necessary for the fungus to have a way prepared for its 

 entrance to the fruit. The Brown-rot is frequently aided in the same 

 manner to gain an entrance to the fruit, but it is not entirely dependent 

 on such obvious accidents. It is able to penetrate apparently sound 

 fruit if the atmospheric conditions are of the right kind, that is, if the 

 air is continuously laden with moisture for a day or two and the tempera- 

 ture at the same time remains uniformly high, say at 80 to 90 degrees 

 Fahrenheit. Under these conditions, apparently sound fruit may be 

 attacked by this fungus with fearful rapidity, so that fruit in a ripen- 

 ing condition is swept off in a wholesale manner, rotting on the tree 

 or falling off. It not infrequently happens that the rotten fruit dries 

 up and hangs on the tree, if undisturbed, for a long time. The 

 appearance of the pulp of the fruit when in the grip of the disease is 



