764 EXPERIMENT STATION EECORD. 



tions had been previously grown. Chemical fertilizers and stable 

 manures were compared, and the effect of dipping- cuttings in Bor- 

 deaux mixture before planting- was tested. The results of the different 

 treatments are given at some length, but delinite conclusions are not 

 warranted from the experiments of a single season. 



The most marked results were obtained in the use of fresh clean 

 sand. Dipping the cuttings in Bordeaux mixture before placing in 

 the cutting bed was attended with considerable loss, so that it is 

 believed such treatment is unsafe. The general belief that stable 

 manure in the soil favors the progress of the disease was not sus- 

 tained in the trials made by the authors. The most important points 

 for practice brought out b}' their experiments seem to be the superior 

 value of sand and soil in which carnations have not been previously 

 grown. It is said that one of the species of fungi causing the disease 

 is believed to be the same as that producing the rot of sugar beets 

 and the damping off of other plants. Should this prove true upon 

 further examination, soils where such plants have been grown should 

 not be used for growing carnations. 



Botr5rtis and Sclerotinia: Their relation to certain plant diseases 

 and to one another, R. E. Smith {Bot. Gaz.^'29 {1900)^ Xo. (J, pp. -369- 

 Jf07\ ph. J, figx. o). — A report is given of several 3'oars'' investigation 

 of a disease of hothouse lettuce, and incidentally diseases of a number 

 of other plants are mentioned and described. In the course of the 

 author's studies it became apparent that there were different forms of 

 lettuce diseases, all of which were generally characterized by the name 

 of lettuce rot. The first form described is characterized b}^ a soft, dark, 

 decayed spot on the stem of the plant near the surface of the soil. This 

 spreads rapidly, penetrating the stem and involving the bases of the 

 lower leaves. With further progress of the decay, the center of the 

 head becomes attacked and soon collapses into a fetid, slimy mass. 

 Plants growing finely and approaching maturity suddenly collapse; 

 the stem at the surface of the ground and the bases of the leaves are 

 found to be rotted, and in a day or two the plant is completely gone. 

 This form of disease is what the author characterizes as the Botrytis 

 tvpe and is due to Botrytis vulgaris. A second form, known as the 

 no-Botrytis type, is far more common. In this disease no conidial 

 form has ever been found. In general effect the disease is similar to 

 that already described and is entirely indistinguishable from it. 

 Affected plants wilt and collapse, and in a few days are entirely 

 destroj^ed. Associated with the usual mycelium in the stem is an 

 abundant white, woolly mycelium proceeding from the affected plants 

 to the svu'rounding cell, where it flourishes luxuriantly, often spread- 

 ing to and attacking adjacent plants. No reproductive bodies could 

 be obtained, but infection experiments were easily performed by the 



