24 CIRCULAR 659, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



suiting from the gorging of the tissues and intercellular spaces with sap 

 (fig. 11, A). Because it usually becomes worse as the apples reach ma- 

 turity, its appearance sometimes causes growers to pick the fruit earlier 

 than would otherwise be desirable. It is usually most severe on the 

 highly colored and most exposed apples in the tops of the trees; the 

 poorly colored, shaded fruit may be entirely free. 



When water core extends to the skin of the apple it is easily detectable 

 and such fruit is seldom packed. However, it is often hard to detect 

 slight water core, especially if it does not extend to the skin. Conse- 

 quently affected apples sometimes are stored unintentionally. Growers 

 who are not aware of the hazard likewise may store water-cored crops. 



As water core predisposes apples to internal breakdown (fig. 11, B), 

 storing affected fruit for late marketing is always hazardous. Slight 

 water core in the long-season, hard-textured varieties, Winesap and 

 Yellow Newtown particularly, may disappear in storage without leaving 

 any trace; but in the short-season, softer varieties, even slight water 

 core is usually followed by internal breakdown, and this almost always 

 happens with more severe water core in even the harder varieties. 



INTERNAL BREAKDOWN 



Internal breakdown is a senility disorder that marks the end of the 

 storage life of apples. It is characterized by brownish discoloration of 

 the flesh, development of mealiness, and loss of flavor. In advanced 

 stages the skin of the apple cracks as though from internal pressure and 

 one can easily press the thumb deep into the flesh. In earlier stages, 

 however, there may be no outward symptoms except possibly a dull 

 color of the skin, often confined to the affected area. Cutting the apple, 

 however, reveals a brown discoloration in the flesh (fig. 11, B), some- 

 times only in the core region, sometimes throughout the whole interior, 

 and sometimes localized on only one side of the fruit. Occasionally, 

 the breakdown will be found at severe bruises. In such cases it doubtless 

 is due to the localized stimulation of respiration, which follows the in- 

 jury. This is another reason for careful handling to avoid bad bruises 

 and for sorting out badly bruised apples. 



As internal breakdown is a senility disease, its presence in a storage 

 lot can ordinarily be taken as an indication that the apples either were 

 overmature when picked or have become overripe in storage. Further 

 holding of such lots is hazardous. The best way to prevent internal 

 breakdown is to harvest the fruit at the proper stage of maturity and to 

 retard its life processes as much as possible thereafter by holding it at a 

 temperature of 30° to 32° F. 



SOFT SCALD AND SOGGY BREAKDOWN 



Some varieties of apples are particularly subject to soft scald or soggy 

 breakdown in cold storage. These diseases are very much alike in nature 

 and cause, but they differ in their manifestation. 



Apples affected by soft scald look as if they might have been rolled 

 on a hot stove (fig. 11, C). Strips or large spots of the outer tissues 

 are affected ; the skin is dead and brown but tightly stretched with a very 

 definite demarcation of the margin. The underlying flesh is brown and 

 discolored. Only in late stages, however, is it more or less dried out; 



