VEGETABLE DISEASES. 193 



tuce, cliicory, and wild composite plants generally, with a 

 fine white mould. In course of time the infected leaves 

 turn yellow and die. 



Remedies. — The safest remedy is to pull up and burn 

 every plant infected. It would not be safe to spray the 

 plants with fungicides, on account of the poisonous pro- 

 perties of the latter. 



Mint Rust (Puccinia mentha?). — This is a fungus 

 which attacks the stems of mint and allied plants, causing 

 them to become swollen and distorted, and utterly spoil- 

 ing the crop from a market point of view. The fungus 

 appears first in orange-coloured masses on the stems, and 

 later on as blackish-brown powdery pustules on the leaves, 



Kemedy. — There is only one, and that is of a drastic 

 character, namely, lift the infected plants and burn them. 

 It is useless applying fungicides. Dress the ground after- 

 wards with ground lime, and grow mint in a fresh plot. 



Mushroom Disea.se. — Mushrooms are sometimes 

 attacked in an early period of their growth by a minute 

 parasitic fungus (Hypomyces perniciosus), the mycelium 

 of which develops in the mushroom and causes the stem 

 to assume a swollen, bulbous-like mass, of growth. The 

 infected mushroom consequently fails to grow properly, 

 and the stem eventually changes into a putrid mass, emit- 

 ting a disagreeable smell. The spores of the parasite are, 

 no doubt, introduced into the mushroom bed with the 

 spawn or the manure. Other diseases attacking the 

 mushroom are the Tuft Mould (Gliocladium agaracinum), 

 which causes mushrooms to crack and decay; and the 

 Mushroom Mould (Mycogone alba), which distorts the 

 gills and renders the crop unfit for use. 



Remedies. — Any mushrooms which do not develop pro- 

 perly, or have swollen stems, with scarcely any caps or 

 heads to them, should be removed and burnt. In the case 

 of a severe attack, remove the whole of the manure and 

 soil right away from the neighbourhood of the beds, and 



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