554 EXPERIMENT STATION EECOED. 



Ofcui)y Ki'ound for ;it least ."> years where a diseased c^rop has heen produced. 

 All diseased stems should be collected and burned or deeply buried, and this 

 should apply also to diseased tomato stems and fruit, otherwise the potato cro]* 

 ma.v be infested. 



Soil treatment of tobacco plant beds, A. D. Selby (Ohio 8ta. Circ. 59, pp. 3, 

 pli. 1). — In the spring of 100(5 the author carried on some experiments to test 

 the effect of solutions of formalin as a drench on old tobacco beds to destroy 

 the bed rot (Rhizoctonia sp.). 



The results were doubtful in some cases and favorable in others. In order 

 to overcome some of the disadvantages of spring application fall treatments 

 are reconmiended. The treatn)ent consists of the application of a solution 

 of formalin of the proportion of 2 lbs. formalin to 50 gal. of water, to be applied 

 to the seed bed at the rate of 1 gal. to each square foot of surface. This 

 treatment should be made before freezing weather begins, and the beds left 

 without disturbance until spring, when they may be prepared for seeding. 



A thorough trial of this method is recommended, which it is believed will 

 not only keep down the Rhizoctonia. but also the daraping-off fungus (Pythimn 

 sp. ) and the black root due to Thielavia. 



Diseased apijles and melons from the Cape of Good Hope, G. Massee (Roy. 

 Bot. Gard. Kew, Bui. Misc. Inform., 1906, No. 6, pit. 193-196, pi. i).— Descrip- 

 tions are given of diseased apples and melons which were forwarded to the 

 Kew laboratory for examination. 



In the case of the apple the disease is indicated b.v the appearance of minute, 

 scattered, discolored blotches on the skin. After several weeks the blotches 

 increase in size and at the same time become sunken or depressed below the 

 surface. A microscopic examination showed the cells underlying each spot to 

 be dead and collapsed and often crowded with starch grains, whereas the 

 starch had entirely disappeared from healthy cells in the process of ripening. 



Neither fungi nor insects were found to play any part in the disease, which 

 is considered to be of a purely physiological nature and caused by irregu- 

 larities in the ripening of the fruit. It is probable that the injury to the 

 fruit was due to too high temperature during the early period of ripening. 



In the case of diseased melons the specimens exhibited small, roundish, pale- 

 brown patches upon the surface of the rind, which on examination were found 

 to be caused by the fungus Macrosporimii sarcinuUt. Inoculation experiments 

 showed that the conidia of the fungus was capable of infecting melons. The 

 removal and destruction of diseased melons and thorough spraying with some 

 fungicide on the first indication of the disease are recommended as preventive 

 measures. 



Pear rust, H. T. Gtissow (Gard. Chron., 3. ser., .',0 (1906), No. 1025, p. 134, 

 fiy.s. J). — A brief account is given of the pear rust fungus, which is the 

 iecidial stage of Gymnosporanfjium sabinxr, and the author calls attention to 

 a severe outbreak of the disease in England. The life history of the fungus 

 is described at some length, and the fact that the fungus hibernates on the 

 shoots of various species of Juniper is mentioned. 



Spraying with Bordeaux mixture for the protection of the pear leaves is 

 recommended, but the author thinks that this would be impracticable in large 

 orchards and that a simpler remedy would be the destruction of the Juniper 

 bushes, providing this shoiild prove possible. 



The development and prevention of the gray rot of grapes, J. M. Guillon 

 Rev. ^^■it., 26 (1906), Nos. 659, pp. 117-12-',, figs, .i ; 66(1, pp. 1J,9-152 ; 661, 

 pp. 181-186. dyiiiK. 2). — After describing the gray rot of grapes due to Botrytis 

 cinercu, the conidial phase of Sclerotinia fuckeliaua, an account is given of 



