94 



Sooty-blotch and fly-speck is usually at its worst in old 

 orchards which have not been kept properly pruned to admit 

 light and air. It is common, also, on trees shaded by buildings 

 and on roadside trees exposed to dust. 



Fruit-Spot. 



This disease is also known as Brooks-spot and brown-spot 

 of I^aldwin. It is not, however, confined to the Baldwin, and, 

 in fact, other varieties, such as Yellow Transparent, Yellow 

 Bellflower and Tolman Sweet, are often more seriously affected 

 by it. 



Fruit-spot is more serious in New England than in other 

 sections, and in some years it has very greatly reduced the 

 value of the apple crop in this State. 



The cause of fruit-spot is a fungus, Phoma pomi. The dis- 

 ease first manifests itself in August. On red-skinned fruit, the 

 small, round spots are deeper red, and on green skin they are 

 darker green. The spots are usually most numerous about the 

 blossom end of the fruit. At first the spots are but slightly 

 sunken and each centers about a lenticel or breathing pore. 

 Later, the spots deepen in color or turn brown and become 

 more sunken. They do not become large. (Fig. 8.) Im- 

 mediately beneath the surface of the spots the flesh of the 

 fruit becomes discolored, but this never extends deeply. Mi- 

 nute black fruiting bodies of the causal fungus appear in the 

 spots in their later stages of development. 



• Bitter-Pit or Stiffen. 



Baldwin fruit-spot is perhaps a more common name for this 

 disease. It is, however, misleading, because the King, Rhode 

 Island Greening, Northern Spy and other varieties are com- 

 monly affected, though the Baldwin is, perhaps, the most sus- 

 ceptible. Bitter-pit is among the important apple diseases of 

 the State, and in some years it may be ranked as the most 

 serious. It does not destroy the fruit through decay, but so 

 reduces the quality as to render it unfit for market. 



The cause of bitter-pit is obscure. It is not due to attack 

 by a parasitic organism, and is therefore classified as a physio- 



