THE BOOK OF THE PEONY 



greater familiarity and more knowledge of them 

 that we may hope to save our plants from their 

 ravages. 



The first step in our study of the diseases of 

 the peony is to learn to recognise them, to distin- 

 guish them, the one from the others, to name them. 

 This we may accomplish only by learningthe char- 

 acteristic symptoms of each. This will be my chief 

 object in the present paper. The next step is to 

 discover the cause of each different malady, to un- 

 cover the nature of the pathogen, be it fungus, bac- 

 terium, or what-not, that is chiefly responsible 

 for the diseased condition. In this direction but 

 little progress has as yet been made. This is 

 largely the problem of the plant doctors, and 

 I hope to be able to have shortly many more facts 

 on this phase of the subject than we now possess. 



Of the control of these different diseases least 

 is naturally known, and only with fuller knowl- 

 edge of the pathogens and their life habits will 

 we be able to intelligently undertake experiments 

 on control. What I may have to offer on this 

 part of the subject must of necessity be only 

 suggestions. 



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