PART II. 



INFLUENCE OF COLD STORAGE ON THE 

 DECAY OF APPLES. EFFECT OF WRAP- 

 PING APPLES IN PAPER. 



BY HERBERT H. LAMSON. 



Apples like all other products of life processes, if left to 

 themselves, will undergo a series of changes to which the term 

 decay is applied. In the vast majority of cases the agents of 

 decay are living organisms belonging to the lower orders of 

 the vegetable kingdom. The plants called bacteria are the 

 most common cause of decay ; but certain other somewhat 

 more highly organized plants known as fungi also pay an 

 important part in the breaking down of certain substances. 

 The decay or rotting of apples is caused chiefly by the latter 

 agents; bacteria do not find the acid reaction of apple pulp 

 favorable to their developement. 



Three species of fungi cause most of the rotting of apples ; 

 these are : 



Black rot i^Sphaeropsis maloruni). In this the apple 

 shows on the surface one or more brown spots which gradually 

 spread until the whole apple is involved, the pulp remaining 

 tolerably firm. Later tlie surface becomes darker or quite 

 black in color and is seen to be studded with minute pimples 

 or pustules. (Fig. i.) These are the fruiting of the fungus 

 which cause the rot, and contain the spores by which it is 

 propagated. Microscopic examination of the pulp shows it to 

 be permeated by the thread-like mycelium or vegatative part 

 of the fungus. 



