136 liEl'UKT OF THE DEPAK•1ME^T OF BoTANY OF TUE 



THE OUTLOOK FOR THE FUTURE. 



The question has been asked, Will anthracnose be destructive 

 next season? Also, Is it likely to appear regularly every season 

 hereafter and become a menace to the currant industry? It is 

 our opinion that currant growers need not be alarmed. Anthrac- 

 nose is by no means a new disease of currants. It has existed 

 in the currant plantations of New York for at least twelve 3'ears 

 and probably longer. In 1889 it was destructive; but since that 

 time there is no published record of any damage done by it in 

 this State. Judging from the past history of the disease it 

 seems unlikely that it will become troublesome except in an 

 occasional season when all conditions are favorable to it.^** How- 

 ever, we are not unmindful of the fact that diseases which spring 

 suddenly into prominence as the currant anthracnose has done 

 during the past season sometimes continue to be very destruc- 

 tive. Striking examples of this are afforded by the cucumber 

 downy mildew, Plasmopara cuhensis, and the asparagus rust, 

 Puccinla asparagi. The former first appeared in this country in 

 1889 and has since become so destructive in the Eastern United 

 States that the growing of late cucumbers must have been aban- 

 doned had it not been discovered that the disease can be con- 

 trolled by spraying.^^ The first epidemic of asparagus rust 

 occurred in 1S96 in New Jersey, Long Island and Southern New 

 England.is Prior to 189G it was practically unknown in America; 

 but each season since 1896 it has been destructive and seems to 

 be established as a permanent scourge of asparagus. 



'"Exactly what weather conditions are most favorable to the disease is 

 not known. The two epidemics of recent years in tliis State have both 

 occurred in wet seasons (ISSO and 1901) and naturally we infer that wet 

 weather is favorable to the disease. However, Dr. Weiss states (Weiss, 

 J. E. Die Blattfallkrankheit der Johannisbeerstraiicher. Praktische Blatter 

 fiir Pfianzcnsclnitz, 3:3), that in soutlieru Bavaria the disease was epidemic 

 in the dry seasons of 1898 and 1899, but scarcely any damage was done 

 in the wet season of 1897. 



'■For the history of Plasmopara cuhensis see Bui. 119 of this Station, 

 p. 1G4. 



"Ilalsted. B. D. N. i. Exp. Sta. Bui. 129. 



