Decay of Cherries 369 



true of the sweet cherries; if they are picked when they 

 are wet, and put into boxes or baskets in this condition, 

 they will be almost certain to decay before reaching the 

 market, unless the weather remains very cool. 



This fruit-rot fungus is very damaging on many stone- 

 fruits. In sweet cherries, writes G. H. Powell, "the losses 

 from this disease which have come under my observation 

 are invariably the result of letting the fruit hang on the 

 trees till ripe, and then the rot is very active; but cherries 

 should be picked a few days before ripe, before they soften, 

 and then the rot does not seriously affect them. An illus- 

 tration of this point, which is a most important one, was 

 brought to my notice the present season. The last week of 

 June, in eastern New York, was very hot and close, with 

 showers every day or two. The cherries were then ripen- 

 ing, and the conditions were favorable for the rot to spread. 

 In one orchard, from which several tons of cherries were 

 shipped that week, there was not more than one hundred 

 and fifty pounds destroyed by the rot, while in another 

 orchard a few miles distant at least ten tons of the same 

 varieties were ruined on the trees. In the first orchard the 

 fruit was picked before it had ripened, and all that was fit 

 was taken off as soon as the trees dried off after a shower; 

 in the other orchard it was left till nearly ripe, and one- 

 half to two-thirds of the crop was lost before the fruit 

 could be picked. So rapid is the work of this fungus at 

 this period, that the owner of the orchard told me that he 

 lost three tons of one variety in one night. It might be 

 added that the orchard first mentioned was a much 

 stronger one, as it was in cultivation, while the last had 

 been in sod for years, and the general debility and neglect 

 of the trees made them good subjects for the attacks of 

 rot or any other disease." 

 x 



