Bitter-pit 



suffice to get rid of the available water without loss 

 of sugar, etc. 



Enough has been said to show that some of the 

 chief troubles met with in cultivation are due to im- 

 proper relations between water available at the root 

 and water vapour given off, and certain mysterious 

 diseases of plants, e.g. the bitter-pit of apples and 

 pears, characterised by the presence of brown spots 

 of dead cells in the flesh of the fruit, usually some 

 little way beneath the skin, are probably traceable 

 to the same source. Attention to this important 

 point should be the aim of all who attempt to 

 cultivate plants, and almost all cultural operations, 

 from the preparation of the soil to methods of 

 grafting and budding, have a more or less direct 

 relation to it. 



Not only do plants suffer directly through in- 

 attention to the maintenance of proper conditions, 

 but the weakened plant is more Uable to attack by 

 fungi and bacteria, and even, probably, at times by 

 insects. Every gardener recognises that really good 

 cultivation {i.e. the provision of the conditions which 

 secure good health) renders attack by mildew, e.g. 

 on peas, far less Hkely to occur, while protection 

 from cold winds or sudden chiUs almost certainly 

 secures peaches and the hke from the " curl " 

 disease. It might indeed be said that the best 

 preventive of disease is the maintenance of good 

 health. 



39 



