170 DISEASES AND INSECT ENEMIES. 



been given to minor matters throughout the 

 entire season the chances are that the disease 

 would not have appeared and that there would 

 have been no serious loss in consequence. When 

 the disease has reached a severe form, the flowers 

 are practically worthless and the only thing that 

 can be done is to put forth every effort to get the 

 plants into a healthy condition as soon as possible. 

 Briefly therefore: Keep the plants at 

 all times in a healthy growing con- 

 dition. Rigidly destroy all diseased 

 parts of the plant. Never apply 

 water to the leaves in such a way 

 that they cannot dry in from four 

 to five hours. Keep the leaves free 

 from dew. Avoid fumigation with 

 tobacco, but if tobacco is used, make 

 the smoke as light as possible. 



Witt, or Stem Rot, Next in importance to 

 spot is wilt, or stem rot. In fact in many sections 

 the stem rot causes more trouble than the spot. 

 The disease is as a rule confined to the stems, al- 

 though it frequently attacks the roots, but it never 

 produces the injury there that it does when the 

 stems are affected. We have rarely seen a plant 

 wholly free from this trouble, although in many 

 instances it does not produce any appreciable in- 

 jury. This disease is also due to a fungus, which 

 lives in the tissues and about which comparatively 

 little is known. So far, we know it chiefly through 



