192 
Joumal of Agricultural Research 
Vol. XXX, No. 2 
tion from blue mold but at the end of five 
weeks 73 per cent or more of the fruit 
had decayed from what apparently was 
green mold. With the fruit inoculated 
by puncturing and immersion, the re¬ 
sults are not so striking; there is con¬ 
siderably more blue mold present, indi¬ 
cating contamination of the culture 
used for inoculation. The percentage 
of rot caused by green mold as shown 
by the later inspections is high in all 
cases, although it was above 50 per 
cent in only one case. 
From the results of the experiments 
herein reported it is evident that blue 
mold rot, which causes so much damage 
to Citrus fruit in California, can be 
largely controlled by treating the fruit 
with a solution of borax. Much of the 
work described in this paper was done 
in the packing house and with equip¬ 
ment suitable for application in a com¬ 
mercial way. It remains, however, to 
make further experiments on a com¬ 
mercial basis, to determine the value of 
the treatment in actual shipping and 
marketing tests. While borax 6 in the 
concentration used is not so effective in 
the control of green mold as in that of 
blue mold, it is probable that higher 
concentrations of borax or other disin¬ 
fectants may be found which will be 
effectious against this fungus. Work 
along these lines is in progress. 
• The question as to whether treatment with borax should be indicated by special label or otherwise for 
nterstate shipment has not yet been determined. 
