384 SPOTTING OF APPLES. 



afterwards parted from their sprays and left them 

 bare; while the other and sheltered side of the 

 trees preserved its green foliag'e very slightly in- 

 fluenced by the spray that burned up the other. 

 No period of the leafy season is exempt from these 

 pernicious effects, more or less, if the wind be suffi- 

 ciently violent and blowing from the water. Por- 

 tions of the country distant from the shores often 

 seem more influenced by these salt sprays than 

 others more near, the wind lifting up the saline 

 moisture, bearing it aloft to remote parts, and 

 dropping it as it travels over the land or meets 

 with impediments. 



Our apples in some years are more inclined to 

 become spotted than in others, from causes not 

 quite obvious, as moist summers do not occasion it 

 more decidedly than dry. Particular sorts are 

 more subject to these dark markings than others. 

 The russet, though a rough-coated fruit, seems 

 exempt from spots ; whereas some of the smooth- 

 rinded ones, especially the pearmain, are invariably 

 disfigured with them. These marks appear to be 

 an gecidium, which we frequently find to be perfectly 

 matured, the centre occupied with minute, powdery 

 capsules, having burst through their epidermis, or 

 covering, which hangs in fragments round the mar- 

 gin. This aecidium apparently derives its nutri- 

 ment from the apple ; for immediately round the 

 verge of the spot the skin becomes wrinkled in 

 consequence of the juices being drawn off by the 

 fungus. In most cases the presence of plants of this 



