New York AGricunTuRAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 453 
with dark olive-green mold. In this stage the summer spores are 
produced which spread the infection to other trees. 
Late in the season the knot becomes hard with a black surface, 
which finally becomes covered with fine black pimples inside of 
which are matured the winter spores. The winter spores escape 
late in winter or early in spring and serve to spread the disease. 
A more extended discussion of this disease is given in Bulletin 40 
of this Station, and in the Annual Report for 1893, page 686. 
Treatment.— The best known remedy for this trouble is to cut 
out and burn the knots. They can be found most readily after 
the leaves have dropped in the fall. They should then all be 
removed before mid-winter so as to be sure of destroying them 
before the spores mature and escape. Early in the summer the 
new knots should be watched for and promptly removed and 
destroyed. The infection frequently comes from the knots on 
neglected plum or cherry trees along fence rows or in neighbor- 
ing orchards. In removing the knots the branch should be cut 
off three or four inches or more below where the knot appears, so 
as to remove the threads of the fungus that may extend down the 
branch to a considerable distance from the knot. The same dis- 
ease also affects various wild plums and wild and cultivated 
cherries. It is rarely found on sweet cherries but sometimes is 
very destructive to the Morello class. 
FRUIT ROT. 
(Monilia fructigena P.) 
The ripe rot or fruit rot of the plum is caused by the same fun- 
gus as that which causes the rot of the cherry fruit. 
Treatment.— The treatment advocated for the leaf-spot will 
hold this disease in check somewhat. The spraying of the ripe 
fruit presents the same difficulties as it does with the cherry. 
See page 420. 
When there is reason to fear that the disease will attack the 
blossoms, treatment with Bordeaux mixture should be made just 
before the blossoms open. Thinning the fruit is no doubt a par- 
a 
