New York AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 198 
SUN-CRACK. 
On June 2 some apple-tree trunks were observed at Ghent on 
which the bark was loose and dead over areas from two to four 
inches in width and from one to four feet in length. These in- 
juries were on the southwest side of the trunks and usually, but 
not always, extended quite to the ground. It first appeared in the 
spring of the present year. The trees were unusually thrifty, 
about seven years old and of the variety Willow Twig. They 
stood in well drained soil. We are’of the opinion that it was caused 
by the sun’s rays heating the bark intensely in early spring while 
the soil about the roots was still deeply frozen. That is to say, 
this is a case of what Hartig® calls sun-crack (Sonnenriss). 
A sun-crack or perhaps sun-scald of apple tree trunks locally 
known as “southwest blight” is of common occurrence in the 
vicinity of Washingtonville. 
BROWN, SUNKEN SPOTS ON THE FRUIT.’ 
A disease of this description has been reported as occurring on | 
Greenings and Baldwins at Clintondale. 
APRICOT DISEASES. 
Apricots are not cultivated to any extent within the district. 
The only disease with which we met was one occurring at Ghent. 
Some trees which have been planted for several years have been 
dying off mysteriously one at a time for a few years past. <A tree 
may die either in part or wholly at any time during the growing 
season. Some died in the spring of 1899. Just above the surface 
of the ground the bark is dead, often for considerable distance up 
the trunk; but the wood is not laid bare. Sometimes the bark shrinks 
9 Hartig, R. Text-Book of the Diseases of Trees (p. 296). Translated and 
revised by Somerville and Ward. The Macmillan Co.: “New York, 1894. Dr. 
Hartig informs us that Fig. 159, which purports to illustrate sun-crack, is 
misnamed. The injury was caused by lightning. 
10 A description of this disease and an account of an investigation into its 
causes are given in Bulletin 164 of this station. 
13 
