TREATMENT OE SOME FUNGOUS DISEASES 



BY 



L. M. UNDERWOOD AND F. S. EARLE. 



Much has been written in recent years on plant diseases 

 and their treatment. A division of the Department of Ag- 

 riculture at Washington has been created for the special 

 purpose of studying them, and the entire staff of ten or 

 twelve trained botanists devote their whole time to the 

 work. The various State Experiment Stations are nearly 

 all working in the same field, and publications from these 

 various sources are rapidly accumulating. It is the pur- 

 pose of the following pages to present in compact and 

 convenient form to the farmers and fruit growers of Ala- 

 bama a statement of our present knowledge concerning 

 some of the more common and destructive diseases of our 

 more important crops. It is in no sense a contribution to 

 scientific literature, but a compilation intended as a ready 

 reference for practical farmers. Bulletin No. 45 issued from 

 this station, serves a somewhat similar purpose for injurious 

 insects, but so far this station has published no general di- 

 rections for the treatment of plant diseases caused by fungi. 

 Only the more important diseases, and those likely to prove 

 troublesome in this State will be discussed under the 

 crops which they affect. It is first desirable to give a 

 brief discussion of the nature of fungi, and their relations 

 to other plants, since many hold very erroneous ideas re- 

 garding them. 



The Nature of Fungi. 



Among the lower forms of vegetation none that are rela- 

 tively so conspicuous and common are popularly so little 

 understood as the fungi. This arises from the fact that the 



