259 
Buttercups in Pastures ; Disease of Apples. 
Diseases of Plants. 
Comparatively few cases of diseases in plants have during 
the year been brought to the notice of the Botanist, and these 
have been mostly described in previous Reports. Cases of 
clover sickness caused by Sclerotinia , of potato canker caused 
by (Edomyces leproides , of bacterial disease in swedes, of scab 
in pears due to Fusicladium pyrinum , and of leaf curl in 
cherries caused by Exoascus deformans have been reported 
on and treatment recommended. 
In the late autumn some apples were received from a 
member in Worcestershire which had numerous small round 
shallow depressions on the surface. These are shown in the 
reproduced photograph. A large crop of valuable apples was 
Fig. 1. — Injured apples. One in section. 
rendered unsaleable by this injury. When cut each depression 
in the apple had connected with it a small group of brownish 
cells, and these patches were found to occur also in the apple 
away from the skin. There was no trace of bacteria or of 
any fungus. These brown patches are shown in the apple 
which is cut through in Fig. 1. The cells in these dis- 
coloured spots are somewhat larger than the normal cells, and 
the cell wall is thickened and dark coloured. Lining the cell 
wall or scattered through the cell are an abnormal quantity 
of roundish translucent grains of starch (see Fig. 2). The 
changed portion gave a distinctly bitter taste to the apple. 
The member who sent the apples did not detect the injury 
till after they were stored. 
