STATE HOBTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 87 



T submit the copy, showing the progress in the investigations 

 of plant diseases, due to fungi, in the Department of Agriculture at 

 Washington. It i? a work that must be uf exceedingly great benefit 

 to the country, and especially to all whose business it is to grow 

 plants and crops. 



DISCOVERIES AT WASHINGTON'. 



Among the discoveries of botanical interest as well as practical 

 importance, made through the efforts of the Commissioner of Agri- 

 culture the past season, the following may be mentioned : 



1st. That of Greeneria. {G. Fidigmea, Scribner & Viala) the 

 fungus which causes what grape growers term " bitter rot.'''' The 

 studies of this fungus were begun in the vineyard of Hon. Wharton 

 J. Green, of Fayetteville, N. C, whose courtesy enabled very careful 

 observations to be made upon its external appearance and effects, 

 and, in constituting a new genus upon the species discovered, it was 

 a pleasure to the authors to name it for Mr. Green as a mark of 

 their esteem and respect. Later observations showed this fungus to 

 be widely distributed over the country east of the Mississippi and 

 westward to Texas. Under special conditions it does much damage 

 to the crop, attacking the berries during the period of ripening. 



2d. That of Coniotherkun diplodiella^ Sacc, which was first dis- 

 covered in Italy, in 1879, by M. Spegazzini. In 1885 it was observed 

 for the first time in France. Its distribution in this country is not 

 known, but its present limits seem to be Southwestern Missouri and 

 ^Northeastern Indian Territory, where it was observed for the first 

 time the present season. Its effect on the berries has led to the use 

 of the term '"white-rot" for this disease. In France, the past sea- 

 son, it has occasioned considerable alarm, on account of the extent 

 of its ravages. 



3rd. That of '"'' Pourridie'"' or root rot of the grape. The root 

 rot of fruit trees, especially of the pear, has already been noted in 

 this country, but 1 am not aware that there has been any published 

 notice of the root rot of the vine. This disease was observed in 

 Missouri, Texas and California. It usually appears in low parts of 

 the vineyard, or where the soil is poorly drained, and is especially 

 liable to occur where the land has been recently in forest. It was 

 on land from whence oak trees had been removed that the disease 

 was observed in California. Although the fungi causing the root 

 rot of vines in this country have not been scientifically determined, 

 they are doubtless the same as have been found in Europe, and so 

 well studied by H. R. Hartig and by M. P. Viala, viz : Dematophora 

 necatrix or Agaricus melleus. Magnificent growths of the latter 

 fungus were seen by the writer, in full development, around dead or 

 dying oak trees near Dallas, Texas. It is possible that this fungus 

 is the cause of the serious losses which the fruit growers about 

 Dallas suffer from the ''root rot" of peach and other trees. Efforts 

 are being made to determine whether or not this is the case. 



