Rot of Cherries. 383 



weather at picking time gives promise of being 

 (dose and warm or muggy, then it is exceedingly 

 important that the fruit should be picked earh'. In 

 sweet cherries, a delay of a few hours will some- 

 times result in the loss of an entire crop from the 

 fruit -rot fungus. Cherries and plums should always 

 be picked, if possible, when they are perfectly dry. 

 This is especially 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 serious upon many 

 stone fruits. In cherries, "the losses from this dis- 

 ease 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 illustration 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 ripening, 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 or- 

 chard a few miles distant at least ten tons of the 

 same varieties were ruined on the trees. In the first 



