CHAPTER II 
APPLE DISEASES — Concluded 
Sort-Ror or Biur-Mo.tp 
Caused by Penicillium expansum (Lk.) emend. Thom 
PROBABLY no one who has had anything whatever to do with 
apples is absolutely ignorant of the soft-rot. It is the bane of 
the apple dealer and consumer, and of any one who attempts to 
hold this fruit in either common or cold storage. Of all the 
rots of the barreled apple none is so ruinous, none so common, 
and none so absolutely destructive. ,-It is world-wide in its 
geographical range, and it is variously called soft-rot, blue-mold, 
bin-rot and Penicillium-rot. These names are all significant 
and perhaps are desirable in the order listed. If the very pecul- 
jar and characteristic odor, which is never absent from a dis- 
eased fruit, could be accurately described in a single word, 
doubtless a new and more appropriate common name could 
be derived. The odor is the first noticeable feature of this 
fruit decay, but the softness of the affected tissue will never 
be overlooked by the careful observer, so that the name soft- 
rot is very desirable. 
Symptoms. 
The odor given off from the barrel or bin by apples affected 
with soft-rot has been mentioned; this is a very accurate 
diagnostic symptom so far as determining the presence of the 
disease in a lot of fruit is concerned. Apples which do not 
show soft-rot lesions may, however, carry the peculiar charac- 
teristic odor of the disease, owing to contact or proximity with 
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