ur knowledge of
the disease is due:

_Preparation of sulphur spray._--Place 30 pounds of flowers of sulphur
in a wooden tub large enough to hold 25 gallons. Wet the sulphur with 3
gallons of water, stir it to form a paste. Then add 20 pounds of 98 per
cent. caustic soda (28 pounds should be used if the caustic soda is 70
per cent.) and mix it with the sulphur paste. In a few minutes it
becomes very hot, turns brown, and becomes a liquid. Stir thoroughly and
add enough water to make 20 gallons. Pour off from the sediment and keep
the liquid as a stock solution in a tight barrel or keg. Of this
solution use 4 quarts to 50 gallons of water. Apply with a spray pump
whenever the disease appears, and repeat if required by its later
reappearance. The use of dry sulphur is also recommended.

DISEASES OF THE FRUIT

[Illustration: FIG. 43--POINT-ROT DISEASE OF THE TOMATO (Redrawn from
N. Y. Expr. Sta. No. 125)]

=Point-rot.=--This trouble, called also "blossom-end rot," and
"black-rot," occurs on the green fruit at various stages of development,
as shown in Fig. 43. It begins at the blossom end as a sunken brown
spot, which gradually enlarges until the fruit is rendered worthless.
The decayed spot is often covered in its later stages by a dense black
fungous growth (_Alternaria fasciculata_ (C. & E.) J. & G. syn.
_Macrosporium tomato_ Cke.), formerly thought to be the cause of the
rot, but now known to be merely a saprophyte. Point-rot sometimes occurs
in greenhouses, but is more common in field culture. It is one of the
most destructive diseases of the tomato, but its nature is not fully
worked out, and a uniformly successful treatment is unknown. It has been
thought to be due to bacterial invasion, but complete demonstrations of
that fact have not yet been published. The physiological conditions of
the plant appear to be important. The disease is worst in dry weather
and light soils, where the moisture supply is insufficient, and
irrigation is beneficial in such cases. Spraying does not control
point-rot so far as present evidence goes.

=Anthracnose--ripe-rot=--(_Colletotrichum phomoides_ (Sacc.) Chest.), is
distinguished from the point-rot by the fact that it occurs mainly on
ripe or nearly ripe fruits, producing a soft and rapid decay. Widespread
losses from this cause are not common, but when a field becomes infected
a considerable proportion of the crop within a limited area may be
destroyed if humid or rainy weath