The Sterile Fungus Rhizoctonia. 69 



the disease. Plants set in tlie field are not known to be affected. 

 An examination of the Illinois material showed that a Rliizoctonia 

 was constantly present in abundance, and undonbtedly the cause of 

 the trouble. lihizoctonla has also been found causing a disease of 

 cauliflower seedlings at Geneva. The plants were ulcerated at the 

 bases of the stems, sometimes the entire cortex having disappeared. 



On the Carrot, Daucios carota. 



The hasty examination of a few carrot fields in August, 1900, 

 resulted in the finding of a few plants affected w^itli Rhizoctonia. 

 In a field at Flint, N. Y., two specimens were found, and in another 

 field near Phelps, N. Y., about a dozen more. In every case the 

 plants were affected at the crown. The leaves were all dead, their 

 bases being rotted off and thickly covered with Phizoctonia hyphge. 

 About half an inch of the upper portion of the root was also rotten, 

 but the disease showed no tendency to run down the root. In some 

 of the specimens there were indications that the rot had been 

 initiated by some larva boring into the crown of the plant. 



Kiihn^ and others have reported the occurrence of Rhizoctonia 

 on carrots in Germany, but we believe that up to the present time 

 there is no record of the occurrence of such a disease in America. 



On the Celery, Apium gvaveolens. 



Our knowledge of the occurrence of Rliizoctonia on celery is 

 confined to two cases in which it was the cause of a destructive 

 damping off of celery seedlings. Both of these cases were observed 

 in June, 1899. The first one occurred in one of the Station green- 

 houses at Geneva, and the other in a greenhouse at Poughkeepsie 

 wliere celery plants were grown extensively. In the latter instance 

 the owner stated that he had had much trouble from damping off. 

 In both of these cases Rliizoctonia was undoubtedly the sole cause 

 of the trouble. We are informed that the damping off of celery 

 seedlings is a common occurrence, but thus far we have had oppor- 

 tunity to investigate only the two cases above mentioned. 



*Kuhn, J. — Krankheiten der Kulturgewachse, p. 234. 



