261 



TOMATOES. 



SouTHEUN Tomato Blight.— This is similar to the 

 Southern potato blight if not identical with it andlike it 

 is of bacterial origin.^ It also attacks egg plants and 

 peppers. It first appears about the time the fruit is be- 

 ginning to form, and is characterized by the sudden wilt- 

 ing and dying of plants that are apparently vigorous. 

 In some localities its ravages have been so great as to 

 cause the abandonment of the tomato as a market crop. 

 The disease will remain in the soil from one year to the 

 next, and will increase rapidly if tomatoes are planted 

 continously on the same Ittud. Some experiments con- 

 ducted in Mississippi indicate the probable us-^fulness of 

 heavy applications of lime and kainite to the soil, as well 

 as the spraying of the stems with Bordeaux mixture, but 

 these experiments are not conclusive, and no treatment can 

 be positively recommended, except to avoid planting on 

 infected land. Even then the disease sometimes appears 

 when tomatoes are planted on entirely new land quite re- 

 mote from other tomatoes. The source of the contagion 

 has not been- accounted for in such cases. 



Tomato Leaf-spot or Macrosporium disease. — This is 

 the same as the potato disease of the same name, and 

 yields to the same treatment. It frequently occasions 

 heavy losses. 



Tomato Leaf Blight. — This is caused by a fungus 

 {Cladosporium fulvum) that forms a velvety olive brown 

 coating on the under side of the leaves causing them to fall 

 prematurely. It is a common pest when tomatoes are 

 grown in greenhouses in winter, and is sometimes trouble- 

 some in the open air at the South. Spraying for the 

 macrosporium will check this disease also. 



Tomato Black-rot or Blossom-end rot.-- -This widely 

 occurring and destructive disease is not yet well under- 



*A blight somewhat similar in its effects occurs in Florida that is 

 Caused by the growth of the mycelium of some fungus. It has not 

 so far been detected in this State. 



