DISEASES AND OTHER ENEMIES, 305 
spreading foliage, will prevent the collection of the dew 
upon the leaves, and thus check the fungus, so depend- 
ent upon moisture for its propagation.” 
The Hyacinth Disease proper is ascribed to a micro- 
scopic organism, cylindrical in shape, and about four 
times as long as broad. Walker, who has studied this 
destructive disease extensively, named the germ Lacte- 
rium hyacinthi, and brief accounts of the species may 
be found in the leading works on bacteriology, as in 
Sternberg, under Bacillus hyacinthi septicus, Page 651. 
The germs are, in appearance, almost identical with 
those of many diseases of a contagious nature among 
animals and man. ‘This is only one of many instances 
when a species of the higher plants is a victim to the 
ravages of one or more of the microscopic organisms, 
also vegetable in nature; the Sorghum Blight and the 
fire blight of Pears being two other examples. The Hy- 
acinth bulbs that are affected with the above named bac- 
terium, when cut through with a knife, show small pits 
filled with a yellow mucilage. It is in this slime that 
the micro-organism in question abounds. At the time 
of flowering, the diseased plants in the field show yellow 
streaks in the leaves, prominent at the base, and disap- 
pearing toward the tip. In these yellow lines the bac- 
teria swarm, in a slime which resembles that of the 
bulbs. It will be seen that little needs be said in way of 
description of the Hyacinth Disease, and there is not 
much yet to write as to the treatment. A bulb that 
exhibits the yellow slime in cross section would, if set in 
the field, produce a diseased plant. The nature of the 
malady is such that the application of fungicides for sick 
plants, while not without hope, does not promise great 
things. Careful watching for the disease and rejecting 
affected bulbs are the chief remedial agents. 
There is a black rot of the Hyacinth, also found 
upon Narcissus and Scilla bulbs, that is probably a first 
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