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data. The hard, green fruit had a pronounced mottling of ivory white. 

 In some cases the half-grown fruit appeared more white than green, 

 and the white tended to occupy the blossom end, while the green tended 

 to occupy the stem end of the fruit. As the fruit ripened the white 

 parts became yellow while the green parts became red, and as the 

 yellow parts appeared somewhat watery the outward appearance of 

 the "ripened" fruit reminded one somewhat of a water-cored apple. 

 The taste of the ripened fruit was insipid, or somewhat offensive and 

 slimy. No microbes were seen in the fruit. The plant was said to 

 have been grown in a dry season, and to have been sufficiently watered. 

 The fruit was smooth and bright, with no other appearances of 

 external disease. The only conclusion reached was that the disease 

 might be of bacterial origin. The season was very dry. 



Black Spot or Fus;cladium of the Apple and Pear. 



The fact that a number of diseases of the apple and pear cause dark- 

 coloured spots renders the name Black Spot unfortunate for any one 

 of them, but in spite of the mistakes resulting from this nomenclature, 

 some of them costly, it seems useless to protest against it. Any grower 

 who feels himself at all uncertain about the appearance of this disease 

 may save himself trouble and needless expense if he will submit speci- 

 mens to an expert before expending much money on combative measures. 

 Some varieties of apple and pear are so very much more susceptible 

 than others to Fusicladium that treatment with fungicides is not 

 likely to be profitable in a season favourable to the disease, like that 

 of 1903, unless the treatment is very thorough. The fungicides must 

 be well made and well applied. Both these features of the case have 

 been previously mentioned in these letters, but the importance of the 

 subject justifies repeated reference to it. The double method of spraying 

 described on a previous page (p. 650, July, 1903) might be developed 

 into a triple or even multiple method with advantage in extreme cases. 



For reasons that are quite beyond our present knowledge, crop 

 diseases vary much in their intensity from season to season, and it is 

 quite probable in some orchards where treatment for these diseases is 

 the rule rather than the exception, that in some instances treatments 

 are made that are not a paying investment if considered apart from 

 the general average of loss. If having insured my property I am 

 blessed with freedom from loss by fire, and then complain that my 

 insurance money has been wasted, I take up an unsound business 

 position. Knowing this, I am not disturbed by my careless neighbour, 

 who carries no insurance, even if he should twit me on my vanished 

 premium while flaunting his own cash in hand "saved" by ignoring the 

 precaution of insuring. In a somewhat analogous manner an orchardist 

 need give himself no serious concern if, in some seasons, he sees his 

 neighbour, who does not spray, harvest just as good crop as his own. 

 Of course, if we could know beforehand the exact nature of the 

 coming season, we might sometimes with advantage dispense with 

 some of our treatments, just as if we could know beforehand that no 

 fire would occur on our property we could dispense with insurance. 

 The difficulty is that we cannot know these things beforehand. 



