376 
THE DICTIONARY OF GARDENING, 
Fungi—continued. 
never be taken, and seeds from a similar source are also to 
be avoided. Some varieties of vegetables and fruits have 
proved themselves if not exactly disease-proof, at least 
partially resistant, and all the principal nurserymen may be 
relied upon to supply them. Potatoes have been vastly 
improved in constitutional vigour. Unfortunately, some of 
our finest hardy fruits have proved less capable of resisting 
disease than others. Cox’s Orange Pippin cankers badly 
despite every care in its cultivation. Another factor for the 
practical gardener to consider is the question of cropping. 
The practice of growing the same crop, or even one liable to 
similar diseases, year after year, on the same spot, is to be 
condemned, as the cultivator’s trouble is only increased. 
Too little attention is also paid to frnit and other recep- 
tacles, and by this means it is quite possible to introduce a 
most troublesome disease into an area that previously 
boasted an immunity therefrom. (See also Fungicide.) 
FUNGICIDE. A preparation which is used in order to 
combat certain diseases due to parasitic fungi. It is only 
within recent years that anything like a flood of light has 
been thrown upon the destructive diseases attributed to 
such fungi, though from Berkeley’s time, at any rate, it 
has been known that sulphur, in some form or other, was 
useful as a Fungicide. Some of the more important Fungi- 
cides are here enumerated : 
AMMONIACAL SOLUTION OF COPPER CARBONATE. This is 
one of the most useful of Fungicides, as it is clear, and 
besides being easy of application, it may be applied to 
fruit crops right up to the ripening stage, which in the 
case of some Fungicides—Bordeaux Mixture for instance 
—it would be unwise to do. Unlike Bordeaux Mixture, this 
solution does not disfigure the piants on whichitisused. In 
the case of ornamental-foliaged subjects which are required 
for market or for decorative use in the honse, this is 
important. A yery good formula is that given by Mr. 
Clarence Weed, who has used it very successfully in the 
case of Apple Scab, Mildews. &c.: 
Carbonate of Copper......-................. 
Strong Ammonia... 
Water gals. 
Mix the carbonate of copper with sufficient water to form 
a paste, then add to the ammonia. 
Borpreaux Mrxture. This is probably the best of all 
Fungicides, and its merits have already been “dealt with 
under the heading here adopted. What is known as the 
fifty-gallon formula is the safest to use upon such plants as 
Potatoes, Apples, Pears, Plums, and Gooseberries. In the 
case of tender fruits like Peaches and Nectarines it will 
be advisable to increase the quantity of quicklime, and 
add a further ten gallons of water, making sixty in all. 
Conpy’s Frurp. Im the case of Rusts, such as the 
destructive Puccinia hieracii, found upon Chrysanthemums, 
and the better known Carnation Rust, a weak solution of 
this has been found most beneficial. 
Copper SuLPHATE Sonurion. This is only suitable 
as a winter dressing for plants known to have been infested. 
Vines, fruit trees, and the walls of houses should be sprayed 
with the mixture, with a view to destroying the resting 
. spores of certain fungi. 
Copper Sulphate. .........c0cececsccceseeeee f 
SWaiter Sete te einieqere ciate nieinininveinisin nmin ielte nies -se-. 20gals. 
This should be prepared in a wooden vessel, and the 
copper sulphate be suspended in the manner suggested in 
the case of Bordeaux Mixture. 
Frowers oF SunpHur. This well - known house- 
hold preparation was formerly much in vogue with 
rosarians against Mildew, but now it has been practically 
superseded by Liver of Sulphur, described below. It should 
be dusted on plants infested with Mildew in the early 
morning, when they are damp from the dews. 
Liver oF SuLPHUR, or Porasstum SuLPHIDE. This is 
an excellent and safe Fungicide, but to yield the best results 
it should be sprayed on as soon as possible after preparation. 
Potassium Sulphide 
Water 3gals. 
The potassium readily dissolves in a little hot water. 
For Mildews and certain Rusts it is of great value. 
SreRILIsaTion. This method is employed in the case of 
Smuts of Cereals, and consists in steeping the seed in a 
solution of copper sulphate. 
Copper Sulphate ........--ceeeseceeeeeeeeeee lb. 
Hot Water 
402. 
sgal. 
| 
Fungicide—continued. 
The seed should be steeped in this from twelve to fourteen 
hours, then taken ont and allowed to drain, Another plan 
is that known as Jensen’s process, which consists in 
placing the seed in a snitable receptacle, and then plunging 
it several times in hot water. This will not injure the 
germinating power of the seed, but is fatal to the fungi 
spores. The water at the first dipping should not exceed 
a temperature of 120deg. Fahr., and at the second and 
subsequent dippings 132deg. Fahr. must not be exceeded. 
A few seconds will be sufficient for each immersion, and 
the water shonld be allowed to drain away before each 
plunging of the receptacle. Finally the seed should be 
spread ont and allowed to dry. A method of sterilisation 
of the soil in the case of Finger-and-Toe has already 
been described under that heading. 
Fungicides are only useful when employed in combination 
with the careful removing and burning of infested branches, 
shoots, fallen leaves, &c. To consign these to the garden 
rubbish-heap without resorting to burning is to increase 
the trouble considerably. The subject of Spraying Machines 
will be dealt with under that heading. 
FUNIUM PILIFERUM. A synonym of Furcrea 
gigantea (which see). 
FUNKIA. Syn. Libertia (of Dumortier). Including 
Niobe. Perianth fannel-shaped, with six lobes; stamens 
six, affixed to the tube, or hypogynous, declinate; shape 
simple, tall, leafless. Leaves radical, petiolate, ample. 
F. alba (white). A synonym of F. subcordata. 
F. albo-marginata (white-margined). A synonym of F. lancifolia. 
F. czrulea (blue). A synonym of F. ovata. 
F. cucullata (hooded). A synonym of F. Sieboldiana. 
F. grandiflora is a form of F. subcordata. 
F. Sieboldii. Of this species there is a variety having the 
leaves margined with yellow. 
F. undulata (wavy). A synonym of F. lancifolia. 
FURCRZEA. Syn. Funium. According to J. G. 
Baker, this genus comprises about seventeen species, all 
natives of tropical America. Flowers  greenish-white, 
loosely paniculate, often replaced by bulbils (from which 
the plants may be propagated) ; perianth rotate, the tube 
short, cylindrical, the segments oblong, sub-equal, 
spreading horizontally ; stamens short, attached to the 
throat of the perianth tube; filaments erect. Leaves 
densely rosulate, usually rigid, spiny-pointed and ed7ved 
with spines. The leaves of F. gigantea yield an excellent 
fibre. To the species described on pp. 37-8, Vol. II., the 
following should be added: 
F. albispina (white-spined). #. white, tinged with green, 
solitary, pendulous ; inner perianth segments sin. long ; panicle 
rhomboid, the central branches 6in. to 8in. long; peduncle 5ft. 
long. November. J. fifteen to twenty in a sessile rosette, 1ft. 
to 1sft. long, 2in. broad; marginal prickles greenish-white, 
deltoid. Probably Central America, about 1892. 
F. Lindeni (Linden’s). This is a form of F. cubensis, differing 
mainly in having handsomely variegated leaves. 1869. 
(I. H.n.s., t. 186.) 
F. pubescens (downy). (j., perianth segments greenish-white, 
above lin. long, sin. to Zin. broad; panicle five times as long as 
the peduncle; peduncle rather longer than the leaves. 7. about 
thirty, lanceolate, rigid, not wavy, 2ft. long, 24in. broad, pungent, 
tipped and armed with distant, medium-sized spines. Tropical 
America, 1892. Plant stemless. (B. M. 7250.) 
F. Roézlii (Roézl’s). A synonym of F. Bedinghausii. 
F. stricta (erect). ., perianth segments lin. long; peduncle 
with panicle 8ft. to 9ft. long. 7. about thirty in a rosette, 
lanceolate, bright green, 2ft. to 23ft. long, 2in. to 24in, broad, 
so deeply channelled as to be almost triquetrous above the 
middle, and having large, distant prickles. 1868. 
F. Watsoniana (Watson’s).* 7. tufted, spreading, as long as a 
man’s arm, 24in. wide, convolute when young, bluish-green, with 
alternate bands of creamy variegation ; margins undulated, with 
minute spines at distant intervals. 1898. A beautiful plant. 
(G. C. 1898, i., pp. 242-3, f. 90.) 
FUSARIUM LYCOPERSICI. See Sleeping 
Disease of Tomatoes. 
FUSCESCENT. Slightly fnscons. 
FUSCOUS. Greyish-brown. 
FUSICLADIUM DENDRITICUM and F. 
PYRINUM. 
present yolume. 
FUSSIA. A synonym of Aira (which see). 
FUSTIC-TREE. See Chlorophora tinctoria. 
See Apple and Pear Scab in 
