Stem End Rot 
Prof. H. S. Fawcett. 
Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen : 
Stem end rot of citrus fruits is perhaps 
one of the most serious diseases with 
which the orange growers have been call¬ 
ed upon to contend. As if we did not 
already have our .share of troubles to 
keep us in a humble condition of mind, 
this new plague sweeps down upon us 
and threatens the destruction of the 
sound fruit itself after we have brought 
it safely past all the other enemies that 
threaten it. A somewhat similar disease 
of lemons in California, called the Brown 
Rot, threatened the very existence of the 
lemon industry there. Preventive meas¬ 
ures were worked out by the California 
Experiment Station after a good deal of 
study and the lemon growers have so 
learned to handle the crop that little 
trouble results. It is possibly along sim¬ 
ilar lines that prevention of the stem end 
rot will lie. We expect to carry out some 
extensive experiments for the control of 
this disease this next season and we will 
try out some of the best methods found 
by the California Station as well as other 
experiments suggested by the study of the 
fungus. 
It is important to investigate this de¬ 
cay at once to see if there may be any 
means of preventing its spread or of keep¬ 
ing it out of a grove or locality where 
it is not already found. The decay has 
become most serious already in a num¬ 
ber of localities in the State. It appears 
to be most prevalent in Volusia, Lake, 
and Orange counties. Our correspond¬ 
ence has shown that it is found in at 
least 20 towns scattered over the middle 
part of the State from east to west, but 
probably worst in the three counties men¬ 
tioned. It is difficult to predict what it 
will do next year. It may be worse or 
there may be different conditions of sea¬ 
sons and weather so that very little 
trouble will result from it. (The condi¬ 
tions influencing the occurrence and 
spread of the disease is a feature 
needing our study and investigation, 
x There are a number of things about it 
that are quite puzzling, but when we come 
to understand the life habits of the fun¬ 
gus causing it better, we will perhaps 
then be in a position to explain these 
things.) 
The amount of loss from this disease 
during this year is rather difficult to es¬ 
timate, since it varied a great deal between 
different localities and different groves. 
In one locality in Volusia County the loss 
from dropping of fruit was extensive. In 
one grove which I visited that had been 
well cared for and in which the trees. 
