88 SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



differs from the ordinary form in the size of the pycnidia and spores. 

 F. 1). Heald describes various types of barley-smuts, with notes on ex- 

 periments as to the best methods of treatment ; the percentage of ger- 

 mination was lessened by all the substances used except hot water. 

 F. A. Wolf found Pestalozzia uvicola on ripe grapes ; the spores were 

 borne in pycnidia and not in pustules, as in other members of the genus. 

 F. I). Heald and W. V. Pool examined the mould of maple syrup. It 

 is Torula saccharma, and grows in pure cultures on media of varying 

 composition ; concentration of the sugar solution in which the fungus 

 was growiug did not affect the size of spores or hyphae. 



F. W. Neger* discusses the mortality among pines in Saxony and 

 elsewhere. The trees show first symptoms of declining by losing their 

 needles and smaller branches. The causes, he considers, are the presence 

 of smoke to a small extent, occasionally the growth of the fungus Corti- 

 cium amorphum, but chiefly the disease is due to Armillaria mellea, which 

 attacks and kills the roots. 



A. W. Borthwick | reports a disease on Picea pungens ; an Ascomy- 

 cetous fungus resembling Gucurbitaria attacks the buds and induces 

 black conical swellings : the bud dies off or produces a twisted and 

 cankered shoot. Another Ascomycete was signalled on the leaves of 

 Abies pectinata ; the leaves turn brown, and considerable damage is done 

 to the trees. 



G. H. Pethybridge and E. H. Bowers $ have made a special study of 

 the dry-rot of the potato tuber. This disease had appeared on a farm 

 in Kilkenny, and caused considerable loss in the field and among the 

 stored potatoes. Observation and experiments left no doubt that the 

 disease was due to Fusarium Solani, of which the parasitic nature was 

 fully demonstrated. Advice is given as to measures for checking the 

 spread of the disease. 



H. Grisson § has examined the canker of rose trees, formerly thought 

 to be caused by frost, and finds that it is due to the presence of a 

 fungus, Goniothyrium Fi/ckelii, the pycnidia! form of Leptosplmria 

 Goniothyrium, which is frequently found on dead twigs of Rubus. The 

 development of the disease is described. The author recommends 

 cutting off the cankered twigs and the coating of the wound with wood- 

 tar or grafting- wax. 



Grisson also reports a disease of blackberry of a similar nature. The 

 canker in this case is caused by a species of Goniothyrium not yet 

 described, which he names 0. tumcefaciens. It causes excrescences the 

 size of a pea or a walnut on the shoots of the blackberry. 



From the Department of Agriculture and Technical Instruction for 

 Ireland || there have been issued two popular papers on black scab 

 in potatoes and mildew on gooseberries. The first-mentioned is 

 spreading widely over England and Scotland, and doing very great 

 damage ; it has not yet appeared in Ireland, so the paper is written as a 



* Tharandt. Forstl. Jahrb., lviii. (1908) pp. 201-25 (3 pis. and 2 figs.). See also 

 Bot. Centralbl., cviii (1908) pp. 495-6. 



t Trans. Bot. Soc. Edin., xxiii. (1907) pp. 232-3. 



% Econ. Proc. Roy. Dublin Soc. i. (1908) pp. 547-58 (1 pi.). 



§ Joum. Hort. Soc, xxxiv. (1908) pp. 222-30 (4 figs.) 



II Dept. Agric. and Tech. Inst. Ireland, Leaflets No. 76 and 91 (1908). 



