Plant Diseases ajid Bisects. 79 



leaves in the fall or winter is as evident now to the pathologist 

 as that weeds killed before they seed will diminish the next 

 year's weed crop. 



" The onion smut, which has diminished the profits of onion 

 growing in Connecticut, has been so well worked out by Dr. 

 Thaxter* that the intelligent farmer with the facts before him 

 can scarcely fail to make this crop a success. By simply sow- 

 ing the seed in drills along which has previously been scatter- 

 ed a mixture of equal parts of air-slaked lime and fiowers of 

 sulphur, the fungus which enters the onion seedling beneath 

 the ground is immediately checked. 



''The cranberry scald, which yearly ruined hundreds of 

 bushels of this most profitable crop, and which not long since 

 was attributed to such indefinite causes as unfavorable atmos- 

 pheric conditions, has been so successfully studied at the New 

 Jersey Experiment Station that systematic and perfectly in- 

 telligent attempts are in progress against the trouble. 



"The potato scab has attracted unusual attention this year 

 and at least two kinds have been described. One, discovered 

 by H. L. Bolley of Indiana, f is caused wholly by the attacks 

 of a germ or one-celled organism of extremely minute size, 

 known as a bactei-iiim, which enters the young growing tuber, 

 and by rapid growth in the cells beneath the skin, breaks 

 down the tissue and forms, upon the maturing of the potato, 

 the deep, ugly pits so well known. The other, equally well 

 described by Dr. Roland Thaxter in a paper at the meeting of 

 Agricultural Colleges and Experiment Stations, resembles the 

 former in appearance almost precisely, and is the result of the 

 action of a fungus which is found abundantly upon rotting 

 manure, and is closely related to the moulds. These discov- 

 eries, together with that of the German investigator who finds 

 a very low form of plant life, a slime mould, as the cause of 

 the malady, give us a deeper insight into the hitherto some- 

 what mysterious affection, and form a basis for intelligent 

 practical experimentation. From these recent discoveries, the 

 contagious nature is fully settled and the danger of planting 

 scabby tubers, or employing lime, ashes, or especially stable 

 manure, in excess is pointed out. 



*Ann. Report Conn. Exp. Station, 1S89. 

 fAgric. Sci. 243, 2;)7. 



