106 . Report of the Botanist of thh 



the cracks and affected parts. A diseased beet sliced lengthwise 

 and placed in a moist chamber yields in a day or two a luxuriant 

 growth of the fungus. 



This disease has since been reported to us in the central and 

 the western parts of the State, but specimens were not seen. 

 During the past season it was found again,, in the month of 

 August, at Flint and at Phelps, N. Y.; but in neither case was 

 there any serious outbreak of the disease. Specimens collected 

 at the former place showed a considerable development of 

 sclerotia, which bodies had not been previously observed upon 

 the beet. Furthermore, Mr. A. D. Selby has kindly told us that 

 he has found this disease of beets in Ohio during the past 

 autumn. 



Injoculation experiments have been made in the field, and these 

 all indicate beyond a doubt that this Rhizoctonia may readily 

 produce beet root-rot when the conditions are favorable. Moist 

 conditions are essential for the spread of the disease from plant 

 to plant. Moreover, this fungus taken directly from diseased 

 beets has the power of damping off lettuce and also beet seed- 

 Id ngs. 



A beet disease due to a species of Rhizoctonia has been known 

 to botanists in Europe since 1855; and we are indebted to Pro- 

 fessor Karl von Tubeuf, of Berlin, for material of that fungus. 

 It is .improbable that the American form is identical with the 

 European. However, the disease found by Pammel^ in Iowa 

 may be the same as the one which we find in New York. 



ON THE CABBAGE AND CAULIFLOWER, 



{Brassica oleracea.) 



Specimens o? diseased cabbage seedings were received from 

 Cairo, 111., early in 1898. Among growers this disease is improp- 

 erly called black rot. Sometimes the disease affects very young 

 seedlings, and they are damped off by it, but it is more common 

 after the plantlets have developed one or two true leaves. In 



'Pammel, L. H. Loc. cit. 



