NOTES AND ABSTRACTS. 



301 



Apple-rot, Due to Undescribed Species of Alternaria. By 



B. 0. Lcmgyear (U.S.A. Agr. Exp. Stn. Colorado, Bull. 105, Nov. 1905 ; 

 1 plates). — Probably the most common and widely distributed disease 

 of orchard fruits in Colorado is a decay of apples and pears due to 

 an apparently undescribed species of Alternaria. In the apple the fungus 

 is confined to the fruit, its most common point of attack being at the 

 blossom end. The affected fruits show a dark purplish-brown, slightly 

 sunken, area at the base of the sepals. The rotting is not so rapid as that 

 caused by some of the soft-rot fungi. Often no external evidence of the 

 presence of the fungus is noticeable until the apple is cut through, when 

 the core cavity is found to be blackened or discoloured. In badly affected 

 specimens the seed cavity is nearly filled with fungous threads, while the 

 discoloration extends into the surrounding flesh of the fruit. 



On the pear the fungus attacks the leaves as well as the fruit, pro- 

 ducing brown spots of considerable size. 



The conidia are blackish-olive when seen in mass. They differ much 

 in size and shape, as well as in the number of cells, from one to ten or 

 twelve, produced in simple or branched chains ; when separated they are of 

 a flask-shaped form. Spores may be found by examining the calyx end 

 of infected fruit, but are obtained more readily by placing such fruit in a 

 moist chamber for a few days. — M. C. C. 



Apples and Cider, Chemical Composition of. By W. B. All- 

 wood, R. J. Davidson, and W. A. P. Moncure (U.S.A. Dep. Agr. Bur. 

 Chem. Bull. 88, 1901). — This bulletin gives analyses of varieties of apples 

 suitable for use in vinegar making and of cider made with pure yeasts at 

 the Blacksburg Exp. Station. An account is also given of the use of the 

 hydrometer in estimating rate of fermentation. — F. J. C. 



Apples, Hardy, for Canadian North-West (Exp. Farms Bept. 

 Ottawa, 1904). — Pyrus baccata and P. pruniloba having proved hardy in 

 the Canadian North-West, these have been much used for crossing with 

 well-known varieties of P. Malus in cultivation, and numbers of new forms 

 have been raised, a considerable number of which, though somewhat small, 

 promise to be useful in the colder districts. Descriptions are given of 

 twenty of the most promising, and some are figured. — F. J. C. 



Apples, Storage of. By S. A. Beach and V. A. Clark (U.S.A. Exp. 

 Stn. New York, Bull. 218, 3 1901 ; 2 figs.).— The bulletin records the 

 results of tests of a large number of varieties of apples stored (1) in a 

 small storehouse without artificial refrigeration, (2) by practical men in 

 cold storage and in ordinary fruit storehouses, and (3) by the station 

 authorities in co-operation with the Department of Agriculture in 

 chemical cold storage. The tests were carried out with a view to 

 determining the ordinary season of ripening and the keeping qualities of 

 the different varieties of apples grown in the station orchards. Lists are 

 given of apples ripening at different times, and others of their behaviour 

 under different conditions of storage, followed by copious notes on the 

 different varieties tested. — F. J. C. 



