Rogue River courier. (Grants Pass, Or.) 1886-1927, 1910-11-25
FR0F. O'GARA TELLS
CAUSE OF FRUIT SPOTS

orchards, has made discovery that
is most important and of vital inter
est to all orchardsts. 1t is that the
red and black spots that have ap-
peared upon apples after packing
and have long baffled scientists and
orchardists, are due to impurities in
lead arsenic used in spraying for
Goblin moth.
Apples thus affected have caused
a serious loss to orchardists for
years. Some years ago ]. w Per-
kins had a large shipment from his
orchard condemned because OF the
reddish-brown spots that developed
while the apples were in storage.
This year many Of the apples ship
ped to Minneapolis for display pur-
poses, though apparently perfect
when packed, developed the same
affection upon arrival and could not
be utilized.
Samples had been sent to the
genealogical experts at Washington
without their finding satisfactory
solution Of the trouble, and it re-
manned for Professor O'Gara to
discover the real cause and have
his hypothesis proved by chemical
analysis.
Professor O'Gara writes the fol-
lowing about his discovermy:
During the past few weeks con-
siderable trouble has been expert
enced by apple growers because of
a peculiar red and black spotting Of
the apples in storage In some cases
the spotting occurred in few fruits
before picking, but in most cases the
trouble only became apparent after
the apples had been packed.
A careful examination of the
spotted fruit shows that only the
epidermal and sub-epidermal cells
are injured, and the injury may be
said to be only skin deep. However,
in the case Of the yellow fruit 1t
often gives It the appearance of
scale infestation. Later the spots
become black and very slightly
sunken The spot Is in no way like
the Baldwin spot" which Is always
to be found affecting the tissues
beneath the epidermis, and may go
to considerable depth In the flesh
OF the fruit. The Baldwin spot"
Is purely physiological and is not
caused by any fungus or bacterial
organism.
For some time past the writer has
been working on the storage spot,
and now he believes very strongly
that the whole trouble Is due to in
ferior lead arsenate which had been
used to control Goblin moth, A
large number OF qualitative chemical
tests were made OF the apparently
sound fruits, the red-spotted and
the black-spotted fruits, and in ev-
cry case appreciable quantities of
arsenic were found After these
facts were known, specimens OF APP
pies were sent to the bureau Of
chemistry, United States department
of agriculture, with request for
careful Quantitative tests for ar
senic. The apples, upon receipt
We're carefully washed and wiped off
so as to remove all arsenic that
might have adhered to the outside
Of the apple, and thus leave only the
arsenic that had penetrated the It's
sues. Ten-gram samples OF the
snots Of both Newtown and Spitzen-
burg apples and ten-gram samples
Of the apparently sound skins of
each variety were examined for ar
senic. The samples taken included
not only the epidermal and sub
epidermal tissues, but considerable
amount Of the flesh which did not
necessarily contain any arsenic The
result Of the analysis Is rs follows
Spit2enburg - Apparently sound
sink, O.o95 mg arsenic; red srots
00b0 NC arsenic; black sNots
00S0 mg arsenic.
Newtown-Apparently sound skin
O,O2O mg. arsenic, red spots, 0.O2,
mg arsenic; black spots, --.
From this II vii be seen that ar
seuic has really gotten beneath N,
epidermis and also in considerahl,
amounts Undoubtedly the coucen
trotion about the injured spots 1
greater than analyses show. IN,
cause Of the trouble is that tho len,
arsonate used contained too large n,
amount " soluble arsenlc-thet I
10 say, the amounts OF the soluble
compounds OF the arsenic wer
greater than allowable for safe us
age, \ large number OF tests hav
shown that some of the brands con
tatrcd as high as to IA sombl