129 
crop in four counties was destroyed at this time. There had been no 
frosts of any consequence and the loss was generally ascribed to the 
rain. This was said to have washed off the pollen, but most of the 
orchards were just out of blossom when the rains began, and the real 
agent of destruction was the rot-fungus, favored, of course, by the ex¬ 
cessive precipitation. The loss from this source in April and May, 1889, 
in all probability exceeded 500,000 baskets. The rot was also very bad 
in June and July. Hundreds of orchards in the upper portion of the 
peninsula produced no peaches whatever, and the railroad shipment 
from the whole district was only about one-half that of 1888. 
Previously I was not aware that Monilia made its appearance so 
early. I had looked upon it rather as a summer or autumn fungus, but 
here it was in April. 
Whence came the rot so suddenly ? I could not tell; but in Maryland 
a few weeks later, during another rainy week, I saw all at once clearly 
what I failed to see in Delaware. This was May 16, when the young 
peaches were about the size of filberts or a little larger. From time to 
time all the winter and spring I had been inspecting the fungus-de¬ 
stroyed fruits of the previous season, hoping to find something. On this 
date I was working at another subject in a large orchard where fruit 
rotted the previous year. The prolonged rains had thoroughly softened 
the mummified peaches still clinging to the branches. Casually exam¬ 
ining one of these, for perhaps the twentieth time, I was astonished to 
find its surface covered with the familiar conidial tufts. Previous to 
the rains I had been in that orchard, and there and elsewhere I had ex¬ 
amined hundreds of the mummified fruits without finding a vestigeof the 
spore-tufts of the previous summer. Indeed, the rains and winds gen¬ 
erally destroy all traces before winter sets in, yet here they were as 
abundant and fresh in appearance as if grown from a newly-rotted 
peach. This discovery led to a careful search. On that day, and the 
wet ones immediately following, I found dozens of mummified fruits cov¬ 
ered with the ash-gray tufts. In fact, about one-third of all I examined 
bore conidial tufts, and in no case were these the growth of the pre¬ 
vious season. They had recently pushed from the interior of the rain- 
softened peaches, and they were particularly abundant after a prolonged, 
soaking rain. In a series of careful experiments under suitable control, 
I experienced no difficulty in infecting and rotting green peaches, plums, 
and cherries with conidia taken from these tufts. At that time, and 
especially some days later, great numbers of the young peaches per¬ 
ished from a natural infection during a continuance of the rainy weather, 
the mummified peaches being plentiful and their spore-dust abundant 
and easily disseminated. 
My observations on this point confirm those made by Dr. J. C. Ar¬ 
thur on the cherry in 1885* and by Dr Paul Sorauer on the apple in 1889.t 
* Fourth An. Rep. N. Y. Agric. Exp. Sta. for 1885, p. 255. 
t Uamburger Garten- und Blumenzeitung , 1889, Heffc. I, p. 10-13. 
