CONTINENTAL NOTES — GERMANY. 203 



In its early youth the pine is attacked by Lophodermium 

 pineastri^ developing a most dangerous and infectious disease, the 

 pine scab. The literature regarding this disease is fairly voluminous, 

 but so far has only proved the limitation of exact knowledge. It is 

 positively known that the Lophodermium causes the disease, that it 

 attacks the sound leaves of pines of from one to seven years 

 old, that its mycelium perforates the leaves, kills them, and 

 develops in the dead leaves further fructifying germs. The 

 fungus is also found in fallen leaves in mature forests, but the 

 question is by no means settled whether we have in this instance 

 to deal with a separate variety, or whether, in such localities, it 

 exists in the character of a saprophyte, able under certain con- 

 ditions to attack the leaves of the young growth in its virulent form. 



We know that the syringing with copper solution of the plants 

 in a nursery is an effective remedy, but its application on a large 

 scale fails by the very magnitude of the undertaking. 



Oberforster Haak made extensive experiments with the 

 culture of the fungus in a malt extract solution, and ascertained 

 that he could sometimes, but rarely, produce effective germination 

 from leaves of old trees, but never with the same consistency 

 and abundance as from young growth. After many failures, he 

 succeeded at last in securing fructification on layers of moss kept 

 constantly wet, and he produced the disease artificially. He has 

 proved that considerable moisture is necessary for the develop- 

 ment of the disease, but, worse luck, the mycelium can lie 

 dormant for a long time and wait its opportunity, and it seems 

 more than likely that the disease originates in the pine litter. 



Polymorphus annosus attacks the pine at a somewhat more 

 advanced age. This danger has already been fully dealt with 

 in previous publications. 



Then we have the pine spinners and the nun moth. An 

 extensive nun plague in Germany and Austria has just ended. 

 The calamity has caused heavy and extensive losses where no 

 measures were adopted to fight it, whereas no appreciable damage 

 was done where means were taken at an early stage to meet the 

 enemy. The operations have undoubtedly been very expensive, 

 but their cost is not to be compared with the losses suffered 

 where all interference was neglected. 



Oberforster Putcher of Dresden has travelled extensively 

 over the nun-mfected areas in Saxony, Silesia, East Prussia and 

 Bohemia, in order to study the question in all its bearings, and 



