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be more or less decayed on one side, suggesting the idea that it had 
been gnawed by wireworm. In some cases small black patches of 
the Torula form of fruit are present on the surface. 
SYMPTOMS OF THE DISEASE IN ASTERS. 
r as my experience goes, asters are always killed outright 
during the seedling stage. When the plants are about three inches 
high they commence to wilt, and soon fall over as in the disease 
known as “ damping off.’ The roots of diseased plants are shri- 
velled and blackened, and all the rootlets are dead. The fungus 
appears to spread very rapidly in the soil, as whole batches of seed- 
lings collapse simultaneously. 
Symptoms of THE Disease IN ORCHIDS. 
I have only observed the disease on cultivated species of 
Cypripedium, of which abundant material was sent to Kew, and it 
was stated to be present on most of the plants occupying a large 
house. The roots are attacked first, then the bases of the leaves, 
which gradually become brown and finally assume the condition of 
a soft rot, when the whole plant falls over. Thesnow-white Milowia 
fruit was produced in abundance when the decayed portions were 
placed under favourable conditions for its growth. It was in all 
probability the spores of this condition of the fungus that spread 
the disease from one plant to another in the house, the minute spores 
being dispersed by wind, syringing, &c. 
PREVENTIVE MEASURES. 
It is practically impossible to cure a plant that is once infected, 
as the mycelium is located in the living tissues of the root, and no 
substance is known that will check or kill such mycelium, without 
at the same time killing or materially injuring the host-plant. 
Hence the only means of checking the onslaught of the fungus is 
by the adoption of preventive measures. The great majority of the 
disease is obviously due to infected land. No evidence of the 
presence of spores on peas or other seeds is forthcoming, and would 
not be expected to occur, when it is remembered that the fungus, as a 
parasite, confines itself to the root and collar of the stem. Infection 
of the soil may be brought about by various means. When 
a diseased crop is grown, the roots in most instances become 
thoroughly decayed, and too friable to remove even if an attempt 
was made to do so. It is on such decayed roots that the Torula 
or resting-spore stage of the fungus grows, consequently the soil 
becomes infected, and even if a crop of some kind is afterwards 
the fungus flourishes and reproduces itself at a rapid rate, 
