68 HATCH EXPERIMENT STATION. [Jan. 



dies, innumerable spores being produced meantime, which 

 are ready to attack new leaves and plants. A fair-sized 

 plant of Phoenix canariensis, sent in for examination and 

 treatment, was found to be badly afiected with this disease, 

 and was treated as recommended above. All leaves which 

 showed any sign of the disease (which included all the 

 larger leaves of the plant) were cut off" at the base. The 

 plant was then sprayed, and has since developed new leaves 

 which show no sign of the disease, though it is now nearly 

 a year since the plant was received. 



A Leaf-s^wl of the Begonia. 



While it may bje (juestioned whether the value of the 

 l)egonia is strictly that of a decorative plant, in the sense 

 in Avhich we have been using this term, still, it cannot be 

 denied that the plant is often used for this i)urpose, and 

 on that ground we will consider in this category a spotting 

 of its leaves which has come to our notice. Ordinarily the 

 begonia is seldom affected by disease, insects or any other 

 injurious agency. Still, it is not invulnerable, and we find 

 occasional reports of diseased })lants. In the English jour- 

 nals, "The Garden" and "The Gardener's Chronicle," a 

 discussion runs along through several numbers in 1895, c(in- 

 cerning a so-called " begon-ia rust," which seriously affected 

 tuberous begonias. This, however, was finally settled on 

 good authority to be insect work. " Damping off"," a fun- 

 gous disease of begonia and many other kinds of seedlings, 

 is not uncommon. Professor Halsted of the New Jersey 

 Agricultural Experiment Station mentions two leaf-spot 

 diseases of begonia in the "American Florist," September, 

 1894, one caused by nematode worms, the other a fungous 

 disease. 



During the past year or two we have met with a definite 

 spot disease on begonias, mostly of the tuberous variety, 

 which is quite i)revalent in our houses and those of a neigh- 

 boring florist. We are not yet entirely certain as to the 

 cause of the difficulty. The spot l)egins either on the margin 

 or interior of the leaf, and slowly increases in size until the 

 leaf dies and drops off". There are sometimes several spots 

 on each leaf. As they increase in size their surface is 



