368 
Journal of Agricultural Research 
Vol. XXVIII, No. 4 
simply take up too much water and become worthless. As a matter of fact 
this probably does happen with some of the fruit, during wet weather. It is 
well known that strawberries produced during such weather are likely to be 
soft, succulent, and easily damaged even by the most careful handling. It is 
entirely possible that the local name of “water soak” is sometimes applied to 
berries that are not infected by any parasite but have merely been rendered soft 
and mushy by too much rain. It has been shown, however, that much of the 
condition known to the growers as “water soak” is actually the disease caused 
by Phytophthora. On the other hand, and in full agreement with observations 
by the growers, it has been found that there is a close relation between leather 
rot and rainfall. The fact that this relation exists was established in a general 
way by the writer, in 1922, and more definitely, though with qualifications, 
during the season of 1923 in connection with the holding tests and other work 
on strawberry diseases carried on at Beebe, Ark. 
It is worth noting here that in the district around Hammond, La., where 
rainfall during the picking season is at least as heavy as in important straw¬ 
berry districts farther north, leather rot occurs only rarely. It has been observed 
moreover by growers in the more northern districts that the condition often 
prevails when rainfall has not been excessive but merely more or less continuous 
for several days. 
In the holding tests, made at intervals during the period from May 5 to 31, 
2 to 8 quart lots of berries from 30 experimental plots and from various other 
fields in the district, were held for four days in the local cold-storage plant 
at a temperature of 40 to 45° F. The filled quarts were used just as they came 
from the pickers, or from crates ready for shipment at the loading platform. 
The diseased or rotten berries that would have been removed by resorting 
certainly amounted at all times to less than 1 per cent. 
Table V.— Percentages of ( 1 ) leather rot, (2) other rots, (3) all rots, in strawberries 
used in holding tests, on first day after removal from storage, Beebe, Ark., 1923 
Dates in May when picked— 
±una oi roc 
5 
7 
8 
9 
11 
14 
15 
16 
17 
18 
19 
21 
23 
26 
Leather rot_ 
1.3 
0.0 
3.1 
3.0 
41.5 
4.0 
5.1 
29.2 
45.4 
68.5 
10.9 
6.2 
16.1 
25.1 
Other rots_ 
5.0 
7.2 
2.2 
6.5 
11.7 
.2 
2.5 
.9 
3.3 
.0 
.4 
2.9 
31.7 
27.5 
All rots.. 
6.3 
7.2 
5.3 
9.5 
53.2 
4.2 
7.6 
30.1 
48.7 
68.5 
11.3 
9.1 
47.8 
52 6 
At the end of the four days the various lots were removed and the berries 
were carefully hand sorted and counted to determine the amount and kind of 
rot present. Except where noted, the count was made immediately after 
the fruit was removed from cold storage. A summary of results obtained in 
these tests is given in Table V. The various rots were determined by touch and 
sight, these being checked occasionally by cutting diseased fruits or making 
cultures from them. Figure 6 is based on these counts and shows graphically 
the relation of rot to weather conditions, particularly rainfall. The rainfall 
record was obtained by means of a gauge loaned by the United States* Weather 
Bureau at Little Rock. Since there was no accurate local record, the temperature 
data used are those recorded by the Weather Bureau (15) for Little Rock, Ark., 
which is about 35 miles from Beebe and considerably nearer to it than are any of 
the other weather stations in that part of the State. 
