650 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



Concerning a root disease of wheat, L. Mangin (Gompt. Rend. 

 Acad. Sri. Paris, 127 {1898), No. 5, pp. 286-288).— The author gives a 

 report on a disease of wheat known in France since 1878, which has 

 been generally attributed to Ophiobolus graminis (E. S. B., 9, p. 1057). 

 This fungus is said to develop principally on the leaf sheaths and rarely 

 on the culm or roots. The author states that he has found associated 

 with it Leptosphwria lierpotrichoides. The effect of both these fungi on 

 the wheat plant was shown, and their parasitism seems well established. 

 Other species of fungi that have from time to time been reported as 

 associated with them are said to be saprophytic, and are not directly 

 concerned in producing the disease in question. A report is given on 

 a series of inoculation experiments carried on with the fungi, from 

 which it appears that both parasites are found in the lower internodes, 

 while Ophiobolus sometimes occurs on the roots. They are capable of 

 producing diseased conditions of the culm, weakening it and greatly 

 reducing the total harvest. The rigidity of the culms is influenced 

 somewhat differently by the different fungi, the Leptosphreria probably 

 causing the most damage. As a result of the invasion of the fungi 

 the culms take a peculiarly twisted condition, and the harvest is dimin- 

 ished not only on account of the presence of the parasite, but because 

 the twisting restricts to some extent the circulation in the plants and 

 exposes the weakened plants to attacks of numerous parasites and 

 saprophytes. 



The asparagus rust : Its treatment and natural enemies, B. D. 

 Halsted (New Jersey Stas. Bui. 129, pp. 20, pis. 2).— A brief sketch is 

 given of the history and distribution of asparagus rust which before 

 1896 was only known to occur in this country in California. Since that 

 time it has spread extensively and it now seems to occur throughout 

 New England and the Atlantic Coast region as far south as South 

 Carolina. The interior and western part of the United States seems as 

 yet to be free from the rust and it has not been reported for a number 

 of years in California. 



When the asparagus field is badly affected with the rust, the general 

 appearance of the plants is that of unusual early maturity. Instead of 

 the healthy green color the plants are of a brownish hue, as though 

 insects had sapped them or frost destroyed their vitality. A close 

 examination shows the characteristic appearance of the rust, and all 

 its stages are borne upon the same host. 



Experiments were conducted to test the value of spraying plants 

 with Bordeaux and similar fungicides for the prevention of the rust. A 

 number of plants were selected and 10 applications given at a total cost 

 of $4.59, or at the rate of $21.76 per acre. 



The result of the application of fungicides seemed to indicate a reduc- 

 tion of the disease amounting to about 25 per cent. The author rec- 

 ommends the autumn treatment of the fields, which consists of burning 

 old brush, either as it stands in the field or by cutting and burning in 



