Some Troubles of Winter Tomatoes. 



Nearly all forced plants are subject to many diseases and 

 annoyances, arising from the fact that th.e enemies, as well as tlie 

 hosts are protected by the congenial and equable conditions of 

 the glass-house. As the cultivation of a given plant becomes 

 more common and widespread, new enemies are likely to find it. 

 The tomato is rapidly becoming an important winter crop, and 

 its enemies! are, therefore, coming into prominence. Two of 

 these troubles — the winter blight and root-gall — ai'e so obscure 

 in their methods that growers often fail to recognize them until 

 the crop is ruined; and they already appear to be widespread in 

 the north, it has been thought best to call attention to them. 



1. Winter blight. — The most serious disease of forced tomatoes 

 which I have yet encountered is what, for lack of a better name, 

 I propose to call the winter blight, and which is the chief concern 

 of this paper. This disease, so far as I know, has not been 

 described except in a short communication from this station in 

 Garden and Forest last AprU.* It has not yet been carefidly 

 studied in the laboratory, but various attempts have been made to 

 check it and as it is likely to prove a serious disease, the attention 

 of both growers and experimenters should be called to it. The 

 object of the present report is to record the disease and draw 

 attention to it, rather than to present any f uU analysis of it. The 

 disease first appeared in our house in the winter of 1890-91, when 

 about a dozen plants were somewhat affected. At this time the 

 trouble was not regarded as specific; the plants were old and had 

 borne one crop, and it was thought that they were simply worn 

 out. In some of our experiments it became necessary to 

 carry about a dozen plants over the summer, and these were 

 introduced into the house when the forcing season opened lost 



* A New Disease of the Tomato, by E. (^. Lodeman. Garden and Forest, v. 175. 



28 



