, r Fungi. — Bryophyten. 487 



sowie der Umstand, dass die Schwärmsporen noch während ihrer Be- 

 wegung wachsen und sich sehr oft auf Heterocysten entwickeln, beweist 

 nach der Meinung der Verf., dass der Pilz auch saprophytisch leben kann. 



W. Tranzschel. 



Schrenk, Hermann von, ARoot-rot of Apple treesCaused 



by Thelephora galactinia Fr. (Botanical Gazette. XXXIV. 



_ p. 65.) 



gl? Root-rot of apple trees has occured for thirty years in southern 

 Missouri, Illinois, Arkansas, Oklahoma, West Virginia and Kentucky. 

 The trees effected were from three to six years old. Several fungi are 

 associated in the root-rot. Excessive fruit and flower production followed 

 by sudden collapse and death of the tree is very characteristic. The 

 root-rot caused by Thelephora shows no signs above the surface of the 

 ground. 



That caused by Agaricus melleus shows the mycelium at the surface 

 as well as the fruiting bodies. The fruiting body of Thelephora is a 

 reddish orange Ieathery sheet on the roots and base of the tree 

 trunk. The disease has been transferred from oak roots to apple roots 

 causing death in a year. More will be published later. 



P. Spaulding. 



TOWNSEND, C. 0., Some Diseases of the Sugar Beet. 

 (Progress of the Beet Sugar Industry in the U. S. Report 

 72 U. S. Dep't. of Agric. p. 90—101.) 



Three conditions that are especially harmful to the sugar-beet are 

 drought, excessive moisture. and alkaline soils. The sugar-beet's worst 

 parasitic enemies are insects, fungi and bacteria. 



Insects cause injury directly by their attacks, or indirectly by 

 carrying fungus spores or bacteria from one plant to another, or by 

 causig injuries that give fungi and bacteria a better opportunity to begin 

 their attacks. 



Damping off of young plants may be caused by a damping off fungus 

 or by unfavorable conditions of the soil or weather. Crop rotation 

 and treatment of seed or soil with fungicides, or breaking up of the 

 crust which forms on the surface of the soil in many localities, is re- 

 commended. 



Curly-top or blight is worse than all other diseases together in the 

 middle West. The cause is not yet definitely settled. It has been attri- 

 buted to hot winds, action of bacteria, a threadlike fungus, and conditions 

 of the soil. Mr. Newton B. Pierce says it is a physiological disease 

 not caused by fungi or bacteria. The writer arrived independently at the 

 same conclusion in the middle West. 



Leafspot is second in destructiveness among the beet diseases. It is 

 due to Cercospora beticola, and causes a dwarfing of the plants and 

 roots. Rotation of crops will not prevent it. 



Leafscorch is said by Stewart to be due to excessive transpiration. 

 It is not due to a parasite. Irrigation is recommended. 



Beetscab is due to Oospora Scabies and attacks the roots. Soil 

 treatment is a failure. Rotation of crops is thought to be best. 



Brown-rot or Rhizoctonia rot is due to Rhizoctonia betae. The use 

 of lime or some alkali is recommended. 



The cause of root-gall is not definitely known. Rotation of crops 

 is recommended. P. Spaulding. 



Barbour, W. C, A good collecting ground. (The 



Bryologist. V. September 1902. p. 78.) 



The eastern part of Wyoming Co., Penn. In part of two days, 

 55 species of moss, 64 species of Lichens and 25 species of Hepatics 

 were collected. Moore. 



