145 
sequent lack of uniformity in the size of the bulbs. In addition there was 
in the field a distinct bleaching and burning of the leaf tips. This trouble 
could not be attributed to any parasitic attack and was quite likely 
due to an excess of soluble salts in the surface soil, according to S. D. 
Conner. The latter’ has found that there is an accumulation of soluble 
salts in the surface layers of muck soils, composed largely of nitrates, and 
in comparative analyses of soil from areas where onions were not growing 
well and from the rest of the field, he has found the concentration of 
nitrates three times as great in the surface inch of the diseased areas. In 
such concentrations there is a toxic effect upon the plant. 
June 17th., there was observed in one field in Dekalb County a peculiar 
type of injury characterized by a bleached area and constriction of the 
leaf just above the ground line. The leaves usually broke over at this 
lesion. This trouble is likewise due probably to injury resulting from a 
temporary concentration of soluble salts in the surface soil. 
Localized nematode infections were found in one field in Fulton County. 
Instead of root galls the effect was a clump of secondary roots at the point 
of infestation. 
PARSNIP. 
Leaf-spot due to Cercospora apii was found rather abundant in the fall 
near Lafayette. 
Ay 
The bacterial spot and the blight caused by Ascochyta pisi were found 
in small gardens. 
Canners report serious trouble in their crops. It is quite likely that this 
will prove to be a soil difficulty due to a Fusarium. Hoffer reports that 
specimens received in previous years showed root infestation by Fusarium 
species. 
PEACH. 
Harly in the season there was a particularly widespread and destructive 
epidemic of peach leaf curl caused by H.roascus deformans. The disease 
was noted in nine counties. A very high percentage of the foliage on 
diseased trees was infected. 
Later in the season the leaf-spot and shot-hole caused by Bacterium prunt 
became the most serious disease. It occurred in Greene and Hancock 
counties and was found in abundance in Knox county where defoliation was 
clearly attributable to this disease. In the last case, the attack on the 
fruit was not at all severe, however. 
Cankers and twig blight due to Sclerotinia cinerea were noted early in 
the season in Tippecanoe and Orange counties. This disease seems to be 
most common on neglected farm yard trees. Growers report that brown 
rot is apt to occur in the hollows in the orchards. 
1Conner, S. D. Excess soluble salts in humid soils. Jour. Am. Soc. Agronomy, 
9:297-301. 1917. 
