VEGETABLE DISEASES. 189 



Myxogastres or Slime Fungi famil3\ At one time, accord- 

 ing to Mr. George Maissee, the greatest living authority 

 on plant diseases, the Plasmodiophora was considered to 

 be a fungus, but now it is thought by some to belong 

 rather to the animal than the vegetable kingdom. Un- 

 like the fungi, it does not produce mycelium, but other 

 bodies, capable of a sluggish movement, which unite to 

 form a jelly-like substance, called a plasmodium. In due 

 time the latter ceases to produce any movement, and 

 then the jelly-like mass develops into spores. These spores 

 escape from the roots into the soil, and there wait until 

 the roots of a plant come in contact with them ; then they 

 enter by the spongioles, and are absorbed with the food 

 into the cells. Once in the cells the spores begin to ger- 

 minate, and to move about until they meet and coalesce, 

 as already mentioned. The mass of organism increases 

 in size, and either bui-sts the cell-walls or causes them to 

 bulge out, so that in time the warts or protuberances called 

 " Finger and Toe " are largely developed. If the inside 

 of a turnip or cabbage root deformed be cut open, the in- 

 terior will be found to consist of a more or less black, 

 slimy substance, offensive to the smell. This is the 

 disease. 



Remedies. — First of all, pull up and promptly burn 

 every infected root. If thrown on one side to decay, or 

 given to the pigs to eat, the spores will in due course be 

 transmitted to the soil, ready to attack the first lot of 

 roots placed in the ground. Plots or fields containing 

 crops infected with " Finger-and-Toe " should not be 

 planted again with the same kind of crop for several years. 

 Land intended to be cropped with turnips or any of the 

 cabbage family should be dressed with ground lime at the 

 rate of Icwt. per twelve square yards of land. Lime 

 destroys the spores, and does the soil good at the same 

 time. Broken chalk may be used instead of lime, at the 

 rate of lOcwt. per square rod. It should be applied in 

 autumn. In the cultivation of the turnip and the cabbage 

 family avoid the use of sulphate of ammonia and super- 



