16 Director's Report of the 



directly through the milk of the patrons. Work upon this sub- 

 ject will be continued. 



DEPARTMENT OF BOTANY. 



A parasite of carnation rust. — It hafi been discovered that the 

 oarnation rust fungus is frequently attacked by a parasite fungus, 

 Darluoa flum. Darluca is a well-known parasite of rust fungi, 

 but, heretofore, it has not been known that it attacks carnation 

 rust. The parasite m not likely to be a very important factor in 

 the control of the rust. 



Anthracnose and stem rot of the snapdragon. — The cultivated 

 snapdragon. Antirrhinum majus, is subject to a destructive funr 

 gous disease which spots the stems and leaves. It is called 

 anthracnose and is caused by an undescribed fungus to which 

 we have given the name CoUetotrichum antirrhini. In an experi- 

 ment on the treatment of this anthracnose, plants sprayed once 

 a week with Bordeaux mixture continued in perfect health, while 

 unsprayed plants in an adjoining row were completely ruined 

 by the disease. Upon the results of this experiment we base the 

 following recommendations: Spray thoroughly with Bordeaux 

 mixture once a week, commencing as soon as the plants are 

 rooted and continuing until they are put into the greenhouse in 

 the fall, ilf later sprayings seem necessary use ammoniacal solu- 

 tion of copper carbonate instead of Bordeaux. Take cuttings 

 only from healthy plants. 



Stem rot is another disease of the snapdragon in which succu- 

 lent shoots suddenly wilt and die. It has been shown by inocu- 

 lation experiments that the cause of this trouble is a fungus be- 

 longing to the genus Phoma. 



The sulphur-lime treatment for onion smut. — Smut is the most 

 destructive disease of the onion. It kills large numbers of the 

 seedling plants. During the past five years we have been con- 

 ducting extensive field experiments in Orange County on the pre- 

 vention of smut by the use of sulphur and air-slaked lime. 

 Where these substances were scattered in the open rows before 

 the seed was sown the yield was increased at the rate of from 40 



