DISEASES OF PLANTS. 1051 



tows, but there seemed to be no difference in the susceptibility of the 

 different kinds. No smutted onions were found outside of the inocu- 

 lated belt, while it was abundantly present where the soil had been 

 artificially transferred. 



The use of beet leaves as tests for fungicides is commented upon, 

 and the author states that the experience of 5 years leads him to con- 

 clude that the beet is one of the most suitable plants with which to 

 experiment with fungicides, and of the different forms of beet the Swiss 

 chard is one of the greatest value. Tests made upon Swiss chard in 

 which Bordeaux mixture and soda Bordeaux were used indicate that 

 the latter fungicide was somewhat more efficient in preventing the leaf 

 blight. This fungicide is made according to the following formula: 

 Caustic soda 1 lb., copper snlphate 3 lbs., lime 5 oz., water 30 gal. It 

 has the advantage of Bordeaux mixture in the greatly reduced amount 

 of lime and consequently in the greater ease with which it may be 

 applied. 



Brief notes are given on the susceptibility of bush beans to blight. 

 Since 1894, 2 crops a year have been grown upon the same plat, using 

 a number of varieties. Upon old land the Refugee proved the most 

 productive and Flagolet the least, but in the xjroportion of spotted 

 pods the results were reversed. 



A brief account is given of investigations conducted upon sweet 

 corn, in which it is stated that there was unmistakable evidence of the 

 bacterial disease Pseudomonas stewarti, on the variety "First of All.' 

 Smut was also quite common in the same variety. 



The value of rotation of crops in preventing plant diseases was strik- 

 ingly shown by the writer in experiments with eggplants. One plat 

 had been grown with this crop 3 successive years, and the crop of half 

 of this plat was compared with that of another on which these plants 

 had not been grown. There were five times as many sound fruits upon 

 the new as upon the old laud, and the decayed fruits were only 10 per 

 cent on the new land as compared with 61 per cent on the old. 



Observations have been continued on the use of sulphur as a remedy 

 for potato diseases, and three sets of experiments are reported in 

 which, on different years, sulphur was added to tlie soil in amounts 

 ranging from 120 to 720 lbs. per acre. The seed potatoes in these 

 experiments were treated with corrosive sublimate before planting and 

 comparisons were made with them grown in sulphur treated soils and 

 those receiving no fungicides. As indicated by the experiments, sul- 

 phur was efficient in greatly reducing the amount of potato scab, the 

 average results of the different experiments showing a reduction of 

 from 65.1 to 21.27 per cent. 



Cotton rust, F. S. Earle (Alabama College St«. Bui 99, pp. :.'81- 

 309).— This disease is primarily due to physiological causes, which 

 reduce the vitality of the plant so as to admit of the active growth of 

 various fungi, of which the principal are Macrosporium nigricantium, 

 Alternari sp., and Cercospora gossypina. It is largely confined to the 



