ON THE HOLLYHOCK 199 



a pestilence on the wild Mallows, and spread from them 

 to the Hollyhocks. Contemporary writers blamed the 

 railways, pointing out how the wild Mallow established 

 itself and throve on the embankments, and from thence 

 distributed its fungoid poison to the Hollyhocks in the 

 neighbouring gardens. But the railways did not bring 

 it across the seas. It was first observed in South 

 America, whence it managed to get across the Pacific 

 to Australia ; and presently it reached Europe. The 

 Hollyhock grower will, as a precautionary measure, 

 destroy any wild Mallows that he sees near his garden, 

 thereby tacitly acknowledging the wisdom of one of 

 old Thomas Tusser's "Five Hundred Points of Good 

 Husbandry." 



The spores of the fungus are two-celled. Pustules 

 form on the skin of the leaf, and they are the hyphae 

 of the fungus bursting through to the surface from 

 within. The pustules spread rapidly, and the affected 

 leaf shrivels. The loss of most of its leaves throws the 

 plant into ill-health, and the flowering is impaired. It 

 is wise to pull up and burn any diseased plant in the 

 early stage of the attack, and to spray the remaining 

 plants immediately with Burgundy mixture, which may 

 be made by dissolving three pounds of bluestone (sul- 

 phate of copper) in water in a wooden bucket, three and 

 three-quarter pounds of washing-soda in another vessel, 

 adding the two together, and making the total quantity 

 of water to twenty-five gallons. Smaller quantities of 

 the mixture can be made, of course, by proportionate 

 reductions of bluestone, soda, and water. It should be 

 sprayed on in a fine, dew-like state, so that it adheres ; 

 if put on through a coarse hose it will run off again 

 at once. It is useless when the fungus has become 

 well established on the plants. 



