New YorK AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 203 
Gum Pockets IN THP Fruit.—The plum like the other 
stone fruits is often subject to gumming, due to various causes. 
We have observed only one case which is worthy of mention. 
During the past four years the fruit on five prune trees in the 
vicinity of Rochester has been seriously affected with gumming 
as follows: The trouble begins about the middle of July. It 
first appears as an irregular spot of a darker green than the nor- 
mal color of the fruit skin. The spots vary in size, but are usu- 
ally from one-fourth to one-half inch across, with somewhat 
indefinite outline. In the early stages the skin of the fruit is 
unbroken. The tissue underneath is brown and there is a rift 
or cavity filled with liquid gum. At this time, the discolored 
tissue has no communication with the pit or with the outer 
world. Frequently, gum continues to collect in the cavity until 
the skin bulges prominently. The bulged portion is circular in 
outline. Finally, a crescent-shaped crack, like a curculio wound, 
appears at the boundary of the bulge and the gum exudes. The 
exuded gum hardens and stands out in large drops as on curcu- 
lio-infested fruits. A conspicuous bulge indicates a large gum 
pocket. After the exudation of the gum the bulge subsides. In 
some cases there is no bulging of the skin and no exudation of 
gum. In advanced stages the skin often takes on a purple color, 
and one-half or more of the fruit may be involved in disease. 
Then the injury extends to the pit; in fact, the gum pocket may 
be in actual contact with the pit. Within the fruit the diseased 
portion is very irregular in outline and not sharply separated 
from the healthy tissue. Spots may occur on any part of the 
fruit but ,are least common about the stem end. The affected 
fruits show a tendency to fall prematurely and those which do 
ripen have hard spots in the flesh. The disease never takes the 
form of soft rot. | 
The five trees were heavily loaded and almost every fruit was 
affected at the time of our visit, July 20. There were no gum 
pockets on the trunk or branches and no gum exudation of any 
importance anywhere except on the fruit. The trees were 12 
years old and standing in a garden where the soil was a rich, deep 
