BITTER PIT INVESTIGATION. 



II. "CRINKLE," A CONFLUENT FORM OF BITTER PIT. 



In the Frontispiece several varieties of apples are figured, showing both Pit and "crinkle," and 

 they are thus brought together in order to emphasize the fact that the two are but different phases 

 of the same disease. I have already called attention to this, but there are some orchardists who have 

 not. in their limited experience, met with the necessary data for forming an opinion, and it is for such 

 that the illustrations are mainly intended. 



He is said to be a public benefactor who makes two blades of grass grow where only one grew 

 before, and it may be assumed with equal justice that he also is a benefactor who merges two 

 apparently distinct diseases into one. 



"Crinkle" was the name given by myself in 1001 to a disease of the apple in which the surface 

 towards the "eye" end is thrown into a series of folds and wrinkles, elevations and depressions, so 

 that the apple often assumes a grotesque appearance. It is also called Pig-face and Monkey-face from 

 the odd shapes given to it. 



If a section is made of the affected part, the skin is seen to be intact, and it is the pulp-cells 

 beneath the skin which are brown and spongy, sometimes for considerable stretches. It is evident that 

 the disease is internal, and that it is the pulp-cells which shrink and bring about the external corrugated 

 appearance. 



The London Pippin or Five Crown apple (Fig. 12) is one of the varieties most liable to 'crinkle," 

 and so constant is this that in some orchards the ordinary form of Bitter Pit has not been observed. 

 But if observation is extended, all gradations will be found, from the solitary pit to a few run together 

 and then confluent over considerable areas of the skin. On the tree from which the pitted specimens 

 of London Pippin were taken (Figs. 13, 14, 15) it was difficult to find any trace of "crinkle," but when 

 one has closely observed numerous specimens in different seasons, partly pitted and partly crinkled 

 (Fig. 15), there is no reasonable doubt of "crinkle" being a confluent form of Pit. 



The violent vicissitudes of the weather produce wholesale rupture of the pulp-cells beneath the 

 skin, and the effect is seen in the distorted surface, owing to the extensive shrinking. 



I have brought together a number of specimens of different varieties, mainly to show that "crinkle" 

 is not confined to just a few varieties, and that it may occur on the same tree with pitted apples, and 

 even the same apple may exhibit both forms. In the Annie Elizabeth apple tree, in which 58 clusters 

 of apples were enclosed in white calico bags as soon as the fruit had set, in order to protect it from 

 insects, Pit and "crinkle'' combined were very noticeable in the apples enclosed in the bags (see 

 Report I., Fig. 111). 



A typical form of "crinkle" is shown in Esopus Spitzenberg (Figs. 16, 17), although it is unusual 

 in that variety, and both Pit and "crinkle" are shown in the same apple in Rome Beauty (Fig. 18), 

 Sturmer (Figs. 19, 2')), and Jonathan (Figs. 21, 22), as well as in London Pippin. 



There are two exceptional cases of "crinkle," occurring in Yates and Jonathan, which are worthy 

 of special mention on account of their rarity. 



In an orchard at Greensborough, which had been rather neglected, a Yates apple tree about 15 

 years old was found bearing very small fruit and badly affected with "crinkle" (Figs. 23, 24). 

 Hitherto only occasional apples had been found crinkled, but in this instance it was general. This 

 seemed all the more peculiar, seeing that in another portion of the orchard, Yates apples were growing 

 up to 2J to 2g inches in diameter, instead of 1 to 1 J inches, and yet they were unaffected. The larger 

 apples are usually the worst affected, but in this instance it was just the reverse. There was no 

 apparent difference in the soil or situation to account for it, and we must regard this as one of those 

 exceptional cases where even with the smaller fruit there were considerable fluctuations in growth. 



The Jonathan apple (Fig. 22) is also shown in the Frontispiece, so that it will not be necessary 

 to describe its appearance in detail, A large black blotch with roughened surface covers the greater 



