XV 
FUNGUS DISEASES 
SPARAGUS is subject to the attacks of a number 
of fungi, the most widespread and destructive 
being the ‘‘rust,’’ the cause of which isa 
fungus described by De Candolle as Puccinia 
asparag? in the year 1805. From this it is seen that 
the rust upon the asparagus has been known to scien- 
tists for nearly a hundred years, and it is but reason- 
able to suppose that more or less of this fungus has 
existed beyond the history of man. 
The first mention of asparagus rust in the United 
States was by Dr. Harkness, who claimed to have 
observed it on the Pacific Coast in 1880, although it is 
doubtful whether the genuine asparagus rust was ever 
found there. The first mention of it in the Eastern 
States was in the fall of 1896, and since then its range 
has been widening each year. Dr. Byron D. Halsted, 
of the New Jersey Experiment Station, was the first to 
call attention to it, and made it the subject of careful 
study. Theresults and conclusions derived from his 
experiments were published in a special bulletin, and 
from this the greater part of the following has been 
condensed. 
RECOGNITION OF THE RUST 
When an asparagus field is badly infested with the 
rust the general appearance is that of an unusually 
