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may be seen upon nearly all the plants, in which case the middle 
aged leaves show the water-soaked appearance to best advantage. 
Later on moulds of the black (Macrosponum, sp.) or gray (Botry- 
tts) sorts come in to obscure the view and hasten the destruction 
of the foliage. The leaves affected with the dropsy lose their 
healthy green color, become at first yellow only in spots or 
blotches, but finally so throughout. 
Occasionally a plant is so afflicted that it grows but feebly, 
and while pushing the normal number of leaves they remain small 
and are badly specked before unfolding. The whole plant has a 
very sick and stunted appearance, and, of course, is worthless. 
Plants that are spotted in a less severe manner may recover after 
a time when removed out of doors. The dropsy seems to be the 
worst in early spring after the young plants are in the pots and 
six inches in height, bearing a dozen leaves or so. 
The most frequent form of the trouble is when the translucent 
dots are along the veins; this being true in particular of those 
plants which suffer most and are dwarfed beyond their fellows. 
Occasionally the leaves will be only partially unfolded, and the 
upper border brittle and without its normal color; but as a rule 
the blotches and pimples are quite evenly distributed, that is, no 
one-half or quarter being affected to the exclusion of the other 
parts. . 
It is true that in some leaves the parts bearing the bulk of the 
specks are between or farthest from the veins, while in others the — 
trouble is quite generally confined to the veins. This may be 4 
varietal effect or possibly due to age of leaf when first afflicted. 
Again, sometimes the blotches are exceedingly irregular in out- 
line and in others almost circular and quite uniform. 
The reason for this unhealthy condition of the pelargoniums 
is most likely to be found in the circumstances under which they 
are being grown. Prof. Atkinson has met with a similar trouble 
which he calls (Edema of the Tomato and treats fully in a recent 
Station Bulletin. He concludes that the tumors of the tomato 
plant are due to the excess of water favored by insufficient light, 
that is, a wet soil and a soil temperature near that of the air. The © 
long nights, short days and cloudy weather of late winter, induce . 
the dropsical trouble, especially with a wet warm soil, thus making — 
