[aid from June to August ; they are aboul the size of a aber fiv< 



shot, spherica] in form, and covered with a sticky slime. The female 

 after laying an egg rolls it about in the earth until it is all covered 

 with soil and resembles a grain of earth. A small Dumber only 

 laid |,\ each female ; and the males frequently devour the eggs before 

 tii,. female coats them with earth. In the other genera the numbei 

 probably varies to some extent. Geophilus is said to lay its eggs in 

 an earthen cell; Scolopendra to bring forth living young. 



These pests are frequently distributed with leal'mould. which 

 should, therefore, be examined before being used, and if found to 

 contain them should be mixed with lime. Their numbers in the 

 field may also be lessened by broadcasting lime over the surface and 

 working it into the soil. Soot-and-water, in the proportion of a 

 handful of soot to the roots of garden plants for a time. They may 

 also be trapped in numbers by placing pieces of mangolds scooped out 

 just under the ground near the plants they are attacking ; they swarm 

 over the baits and may then be collected and destroyed. 



Another certain way of killing them on small areas is by inject- 

 ing bisulphide of carbon into the soil. They may also be trapped by 

 soaking decaying cabbage leaves or decaying roots in Paris green and 

 placing them about in gardens : the millipedes feed upon them and 

 thus get poisoned. — Leaflet Botinl of Agriculture. England." 



4, Whitehall Place, London. S.W.. 

 October, 1903. 



b81.-FUNGI AND DISEASE. 



Many of the most destructive diseases of both wild and culti- 

 vated plants are due to the attacks of fungi. The ways in which 

 these fungi attack and damage plants are numerous and varied, and a 

 study of them may be of interest to cultivators, as giving some idea 

 of the methods by which the various diseases may be guarded against 

 and dealt with. 



A few fungi cause damage simply by absorbing food material 

 from their host plants and so weakening these that they die of mal- 

 nutrition. This, however, is not common. Generally, the stealing of 

 food by the fungus is the least part of the damage done, which is only 

 indirectly due to the activity of the fungus. 



Take, for instance, certain fungi which live on the surface of 

 leaves. Some of these — the common ' black blight ' is one — simply 

 live on the surface of the leaves and take no food from them at all. 

 They damage the host, however, by cutting off a certain amount of 

 light, and so reducing the amount of starch or sugar that is formed in 

 the leaves, when these are exposed to light. 



Other leaf diseases are caused by fungi which live inside the 

 tissues. Here again, the actual amount of food taken by the fungus 

 is insignificant, even when the whole leaf is destroyed. But the 



