EXPERIMENT STATION KEPOKT. ."iOO 



Professor Ralph E. Smith, of the California Expcriinent Station, 

 ■writes: "In regard to the conditions of the asparagus rust in this 

 Stiite I would sa3^ that at present the disease ns spreading rapidly 

 and all the large districts are affected. It seems to have been here 

 for at least two or three 3'ears, working from the south to the north. 

 In the section about Los Angeles the disease is very bad, both on 

 account of having been there for some time and also because of the 

 local conditions. The rust shows in this State an absolute depend- 

 ence upon atmospheric moisture, and in this southern district there 

 is much more dampness than in many other parts of the State. In 

 the sections where asparagus is grown for canners the disease is very 

 bad in some parts and present in almost all. About San Jose, where 

 there is considerable acreage, the rust appears to have been working 

 for at least two years, while at the northern end of the district, at 

 Sacramento, it has evidently arrived this year for the first time, 

 although in the latter place the tops are now almost all dead. At 

 Bouldin Island, where the Hickmott Company controls some 2,000 

 acres of asparagus, the rust arrived last year, doing considerable dam- 

 age, and is now going on worse than ever. This point is intermediate 

 between San Jose and Sacramento. There are several thousand 

 acres of asparagus in the island district at the confluence of the 

 Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers, and this is all becoming affected 

 with the rust, so that altogether it may be said that the disease is 

 now present in all the asparagtts-growing sections of the State. 

 There is no doubt that the industry will be very seriously affected, 

 or perhaps exterminated, if we do not find some practical method of 

 overcoming the disease." 



Asparagus Rust on the College Farm. 



Examinations of the four plots of asparagus at the College Farm 

 wore made almost Aveekly during the autumn months. The first signs 

 of infection were observed upon October 1st, but the rust did not seem 

 to increase during the month, and on the 1st of November it was still 

 scarce, while the bntsh had a remarkably good growtli and was of a 

 healthy, dark-greei^ color. 



Tlie final inspection was made uj)on November 3d, and the per- 

 centage of rust upon the several varieties was as follows : "Palmetto*' 

 and "Argenteuil," only a trace; "ilammoth,'' "Elmira," "Columbian," 

 "Colossal," "Brunswick" and "Cross-bred," each 10 jjer cent. 



