extreme heat and dryness, accentuated by lack of moisture in the soil, may induce the death of tissues at a distance from the roots (the tips and edges of leaflets); that this damage may be increased and even initiated by the attacks of predatory insects (flea beetles) which partially destroy the tissues at certain points; and that, finally, in some cases a facultative parasite (a fungus which exists normally as a saprophyte upon dead tissues, but may, under certain conditions, attack living tissues and thus become a parasite), such as species of the genera Macrosporium, Cladosporium, etc., may attack the dead or dying tissue, and aggravate the trouble, while in other cases no such fungus attack is observable. . . .

"It seems possible that the early blight of potatoes may be due to the physiological effects of extreme heat and dryness acting upon leaf tissues at a distance from the roots, and already injured by predatory insects, especially those abundant under such atmospheric conditions; that anything which will check the ravages of the insects will, in a measure, check the blight; and that tissues so injured are liable to the attacks of certain fungi which may enhance the injury."

Thorough shallow cultivation during extreme heat and drought and the use of Bordeaux mixture, applications to be begun early in the season, are preventive means suggested by the author.

A report is given of experiments conducted to show the relative value of winter and summer treatment with Bordeaux mixture for the prevention of pear scab (Fusicladium pyrinum). The winter treatment consisted in early applications of copper sulphate solution, followed later by 3 applications of Bordeaux mixture. The conclusions of the author are as follows:

"On the whole the conclusion seems a fair one, that the winter treatment of pears for scab hardly warrants the necessary outlay of time and money. As good results are obtained by thorough treatment during the summer only as when such treatment has been preceded by a single application of copper sulphate in early spring. That the winter treatment is of some value, however, is seen from the fact that trees so treated matured a better quality of fruit and retained their foliage better than trees which received no treatment at all."

Miscellaneous compiled notes are given on the nature and treatment for quince rust (Ræstelia aurantiaca), scab of peaches (Cladosporium carpophilum), and mold of peaches (Oidium fructigenum).

Damping off, G. F. ATKINSON (New York Cornell Sta. Bul. 94, pp. 233-272, pls. 6, fig. 1).-The author gives detailed accounts of the life history of several fungi, the attacks of which result in what is popularly known as damping off. The species especially considered are: Artotrogus (Pythium) debaryanus, parasitic on numerous plants; A. intermedius, on fern prothallia; Completoria complens, a potting-bed fungus new to this country, and Volutella leucotricha, a new species of cutting-bed fungus found by the author on carnations. In addition to the above, critical notes are given on a number of species of Artotrogus, on cancer in cucumbers, damping off of beans, eggplant, lettuce, etc., by a sterile fungus, and brief notes on several other fungi which sometimes produce phases of damping off.

The author's conclusions are as follows:

"Damping off is caused by the growth in the seedlings or cuttings of fungus parasites. The plants when affected frequently present a pale green color. The tissues

become soft at the surface of the ground, the plant falls over and dies. No one fungus is concerned even in the soft rot of seedlings. In related cases the plant may show a brownish ulcer at the surface of the ground, which frequently increases in size until the plant is severed at this point and then dies.

"Too great a moisture content of the soil, air, high temperatures, close apartments, and insufficient light not only favor the rapid growth of the parasites but they also induce a weakly growth on the part of the seedling so that it can not so readily resist the disease.

"The parasites can grow and multiply on decaying vegetable matter which is in the soil.

"When once in the soil they can remain alive for months even though the soil become dry or frozen.

"Soil used in seed beds or cutting beds should be free from decaying vegetable matter or care should be used that the matter is thoroughly decomposed. Fresh sand is said to be the best for small seedlings.

"Soil in which plants have once been diseased should be discarded if it can not be sterilized by steam heat for several hours. Fresh soil free from vegetable matter should be introduced.

“Water the soil thoroughly, but not to saturation, and do not water oftener than actually needed.

"Keep the houses well lighted and well supplied with fresh air. Do not have high temperatures; keep as even a temperature as possible. When the disease first sets in stir the soil about the plants and do everything possible to dry the soil without killing the plants or raising the temperature; keep the temperature as low as the plants will bear. If this does not save them change the soil and clean the beds by whitewashing them.

"When cuttings become seriously diseased change them to fresh soil, resetting only the perfectly healthy nes."

Recent observations on brunissure, F. DEBRAY (Compt. Rend., 120 (1895), No. 17, pp. 943-945).-The author differs with Viala and Sauvageau' as to the cause of this disease and says the fungus has certain characteristics that preclude its being placed in the genus Plas modiophora, and the new name given it is Pseudocommis vitis.

The author states that the fungus in its various transformations presents the following characteristics:

(1) The plasmodia are mixed with the protoplasm of the host, at which time the infested cells are with difficulty recognized, being very similar to the sound ones.

(2) The plasmodia in one form are spherical, without vacuoles or sometimes with 1 to 3 small ones. They are yellowish in color or often colorless. In this form a membrane is present of the same color and composition as the contents. This form reproduces by budding.

(3) In a second form the plasmodia are elongated with spindle-shaped vacuoles, colorless, or yellow, without a membrane. Forms of this kind intergrade from the preceding to the next.

(4) Plasmodia swollen and branching, membrane wanting, vacuoles very numerous, spherical, the largest often as much as 20 μ in diameter. In this and the preceding state the fungus is able to migrate from cell to cell through minute openings in the cell wall.

1 E. S. R., 5, p. 423.

The above 4 stages are to be found in the growing plant, while those in the dead or dormant tissue are as follows:

(5) Spherical cysts with a thickened wall, for the most part without vacuoles, and generally brown or black in color.

(6) A waxy stage in which the hardening to form the membrane of the cysts is continued until the whole mass becomes of a wax-like consistency.

The cysts germinate a single spherical bud, while the wax-like bodies produce simultaneously several buds at different parts of their surfaces. This fungus in all its forms seems to be without a nucleus, and may affect both the foliage and stem of its host. In the latter case often it is affected for considerable distance, the plasmodia penetrating to the vessels, and also sometimes is found in the phloem. The fungus increases so rapidly that it is said to occasionally form masses visible to the naked eye.

In addition to the grape, the author enumerates 27 orders of plants members of which are subject to attacks of this parasite.

The author states that specimens of grape cuttings reported upon by Prunet as affected with chytridiose1 presented an abundant supply of Pseudocommis vitis, and that what Prillieux and Delacroix have described as bacterial gummosis is in reality two different diseases, brunissure and injury due to cracking of vines through freezing.

The author was assisted in his investigations by M. Brive, who was the first to discover this disease, and the details of their researches are promised in the near future.

A disease of tomatoes, G. MASSEE (Gard. Chron., ser. 3, 17 (1895), No. 441, pp. 707, 708, figs. 3).-Under the name of the "sleepy disease" of tomatoes the author has described a disease due to Fusarium lycopersici that has been troublesome in parts of Great Britain and especially on the islands of Wight and Guernsey. As a rule the plants are attacked through their roots while young, but the disease does not manifest itself until the plant is full grown and the fruit is set. The first indication of the presence of the disease is seen in the sudden drooping of the leaves, which increases from day to day, accompanied by discoloration. If the root of a plant in this stage be split open the woody portion will be seen to be of a dingy yellowish-brown color, which becomes more marked after the root has been cut open for about half a day.

The life history of the fungus is given in detail. The resting spores of the Fusarium inoculate the roots of the tomato, their hyphæ soon finding their way into the vascular system, and pass upward, ultimately reaching the leaves. The progress of the fungus in the plant may be determined by the discoloration of the vascular tissue of the plant.

'Compt. Rend., 119 (1894), No. 14, pp. 572-574 (E. S. R., 6, p. 436); No. 19, pp. 808-811 (E. S. R., 6, p. 642).

2 Compt. Rend., 118 (1894), No. 25, pp. 1430-1432.

When the host has been attacked about 3 weeks the lower portion of the stem is usually more or less covered with a delicate white bloom, an appearance due to the presence of numerous conidial branches that have pushed their way through the decaying tissues of the stem. This the author calls the Diplocladium stage, and in about a week it is succeeded by the Fusarium stage, which is characterized by the appearance near the roots of spots, at first whitish in color, but becoming a dirty orange at maturity. The hyphae that produce the spores characterizing the earlier stages of the fungus form resting spores which, finding their way into the soil, remain until spring, when they are ready to infest new tomato plants.

The author states that the conidia of both the Diplocladium and Fusarium phases are unable to affect the living tissues of the tomato, but must live as saprophytes on the rich humus, manure, etc. The conidia of the Diplocladium phase on germination produce the Fusarium, and finally produce resting spores in the soil. The Fusarium conidia produce hypha, which in turn produce resting spores. In this way 2 additional crops of resting spores are produced, which renew the cycle of development by germinating and attacking young tomatoes during the spring following their formation.

The author's summary is as follows:

"From what has been said, it will have been gathered that the germinating resting spore is the only condition of the fungus capable of attacking the tomato; hence the characteristics of the disease-drooping of the leaves in succession from the base of the plant upward, and the discoloration of the wood in the root-should be thoroughly grasped, and the plants promptly removed and burned on presenting the first symptoms of the disease. By this means the formation of resting spores in the soil would be prevented. On the removal of a diseased plant from a bed the soil should be thoroughly mixed with quicklime, which destroys any mycelium or resting spores left in the earth.

"Spraying with a fungicide is of no avail, as the roots are first attacked and the parasite is internal.

"As much lime as the plants will allow should be mixed with the soil in which tomatoes are grown, more especially if the plants are grown during successive seasons in the same beds. If the plants in a house are badly attacked all the soil should be removed and the walls, etc., sterilized by applying a wash of lime.

"Finally, the infected soil removed from a bed should not be thrown out at random, but should be sterilized by mixing with quicklime, otherwise the resting spores present might find some other suitable host plant, and thus furnish a new and unexpected center for the diffusion of the disease."

Spraying experiments in 1894, H. H. LAMSON (New Hampshire Sta. Bul. 27, pp. 16).-The author reports on experiments continued from 1893 for the prevention of the fungus diseases of the apple, pear, and potato.

In the case of pear trees which received 4 applications of Bordeaux mixture the gain in first-quality fruit varied from 17 to 47 per cent in favor of the spraying. An equally favorable report is given of the

'N. H. Sta. Rpt. 1893, p. 160 (E. S. R., 7, p. 141).

use of Bordeaux mixture for the prevention of apple scab. Paris green was added to the fungicide at the second and third application, with favorable results for the repression of the codling moth. Attention is called to the thorough manner in which Bordeaux mixture will remove lichens from tree trunks. Some russeted fruit was noticed among the sprayed as well as the unsprayed lots. This, the author thinks, was due to unfavorable climatic conditions in the early part of the season. In the case of the potato diseases the experiments included the early blight, due to Macrosporium solani and the potato scab. The report on the blight has appeared in a previous publication. For scab the treatment of the tubers with corrosive sublimate

is advised.

The prevention of rust in grasses, J. L. JENSEN (Landmandsblade, 28 (1895), pp. 44, 45).—Experiments begun in 1892 for the prevention of rust in brome grass by the hot-water method gave such promising results that they were continued in 1893-'94 with rusted seed of Bromus arvensis and B. mollis.

The seed was soaked in cold water for 4 hours, left in a moist condition for about 6 hours, and then dipped about 30 times in water heated to 42° R. (126.5° F.), the operation being arranged so as to take about 5 minutes. The seed was sown June 9, the second day after the treatment. The condition of the grass when examined on July 4 was decidedly in favor of the prepared seed. The number of rusted heads was determined and the crop cut and weighed. The results showed that the rust was entirely absent in the plants from the prepared seed and the amount of grass cut was increased over that secured from the untreated seed.-F. W. WOLL.

Botrytis douglasii, J. BEHRENS (Ztschr. Pflanzenkrank., 5 (1895), No. 3, pp. 136–141). Club root (Kew Misc. Bul. No. 102 and 103, pp. 129–132, fig. 1).—A reprint in part of G. Massee's paper in Proc. Roy. Soc., 57, pp. 330–332.

Culture experiments with rust fungi, III, H. KLEBAHN (Ztschr. Pflanzenkrank., 5 (1895), No. 3, p. 149).—Notes are given on Puccinia degraphidis, P. festuca, P. coronata, P. coronifera, and Ecidium parnassiæ.

A disease of Ulmus sp., P. SORAUER (Ztschr. Pflanzenkrank., 5 (1895), No. 3, pp. 143-149, pl. 1).

On certain diseases of forest trees, T. R. SIM (Agl. Jour. Cape Colony, (1895), No. 13, pp. 331-333, figs. 3).—This deals with diseases found on Australian trees.

The ergot of Molinia cærulea, C. HARTWICH (Bul. Soc. Mycol. France, 11 (1895), No. 2, pp. 138-140).

A leaf-spot disease of ivy, A. ALLESCHER (Ztschr. Pflanzenkrank., 5 (1895), No. 3, pp. 142, 143).

The smut of cereals, G. LOPRIORE (Landw. Jahrb., 23 (1895), No. 6, pp. 969-1008, pls. 2). The author has given an extensive study of Cladosporium herbarium. Various opinions are quoted as to the proper position of Dematium pullulans, the author thinking it an intermediate fruiting form of C. herbarium.

Sugar-cane disease in Barbados (Kew Misc. Bul. No. 100 and 101, pp. 81-88). The sugar-cane disease and soil exhaustion (Bul. Bot. Dept. Jamaica, 2 (1895), No. 6, pp. 115-117). --The author thinks the disease may be induced, in part at least,

IN. H. Sta. Bul. 22 (E. S. R., 7, p. 140).