848 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. [Voi. 38 



data on costs and returns, retail and wholesale prices, lumber freights, and the 

 division of the retail piice of lumber among the various agencies concerned in 

 its manufacture and distribution. Report 115 deals with wholesale distribu- 

 tion and Refr?)rt 116 deals with retail distribution. The study was conducted 

 during 1914 and 1915 in connection with the general study of conditions in the 

 lumber industry in the United States (E. S. R., 36, p. 644; 38, p. 248). 



DISEASES OF PLANTS. 



Report of the division of plant pathology, C. W. Carpenter (Haioaii Sta. 

 Rpt. 1917, pp. 33-Jf2, pis. 2). — An outline is given of work carried on by the 

 station during the year covered by the report, the principal investigations hav- 

 ing been on the diseases of the Irish potato and the banana. 



Considerable trouble is reported with the Fusarium wilt disease of Irish 

 fiotatoes and the late blight due to Phytophtliora infestans. Spraying experi- 

 ments for the control of late blight were conducted on a large scale, an in- 

 crease of 57 per cent in yield of tubers being secured from plants given three 

 applications of 5 : 5 : 50 Bordeaux mixture. The wilt disease due to F. oxyspo- 

 rum> has been repeatedly observed, and the author suggests hill selection of 

 seed, the discarding of such tubers as show brown discoloration at the cut 

 stem end, and planting in new soil as the best available means of control. The 

 mite disease of potatoes is briefly described, the trouble having been observed 

 early in May and June. It seems very prevalent and destructive in hot 

 weather, and is characterized by the withering and drying of the new terminal 

 growth and that in the leaf axils. Examination of infected material has 

 shown the constant presence of mites, but whether they are entirely responsible 

 for the trouble or only associated with it remains to be determined. 



The author reports the occurrence in Hawaii of a disease of bananas closely 

 resembling that described by Drost (E. S. R., 27, p. 50) as due to a species of 

 Fusarium. This is said to be identical with the disease described by Fawcett 

 (E. S. R., 36, p. 852) as occurring in Porto Rico. Among other diseases of 

 bananas, a brief description is given of the rotting before they unroll of the 

 central leaves of the Chinese variety and the occurrence of minute gray spots 

 which later turn black on the fruits of the same variety. The spots are said 

 to increase in size more or less and to disfigure the fruit, rendering it unsightly 

 and unfit for export. A Gkeo.sporium-like fungus seems to be associated .with 

 this trouble. 



A number of diseases on vegetables and fruits are listed. 



Plant diseases, F. C. Stewart and M. F. Bakrus (N. Y. Dept. Agr. Bui 86 

 (1916). pp ?Ji26-2Jt31) . — Brief notes are given on apple scab, peach leaf curl, 

 pear blight, oat smut, stinking smut of wheat, tomato blight, bean anthracrose, 

 and potato diseases, and on the use of powdered sulphur. 



Notes on Kouth Indian fung-i, W. McRae {Madras Agr. Dept. Yearbook, 

 1911, pp. 108-111). — A spike disease of paddy noted in the wet lands near 

 Coimbatore and said to be caused by Ephelis oryzos is briefly described. In 

 Karamadai, Coimbatore, and Pollachi, in Coimbatore District, and in Koilpatti 

 in Tinnevelly District, Andiropogon sorghum is attacked by a fungus which 

 changes the starch of the developing grain to sugar. In the absence of a per- 

 fect stage the fungus is called Sphacelia sorglii. Hapalopliragmium ponderosum 

 is noted as having produced galls on Acacia leiicophylla in Nellore, Chittoor, 

 Salem, aud Coimbatore districts. Mclampsora lini has been found on the 

 leaves of Linum iisitatissinmm, Melampsorella ricini on leaves of Ricinus com- 

 munis, and Puccinia spongiosa on Webera corymbosa, all in Coimliatore. Rhi- 

 zoctonia destruens is reported on potatoes near Balliguda Agency, Ganjum 



