FUNGUS DISEASES 



139 



earl}^ maturing of the plants (Fig. 46). Instead of 

 the healthy green color there is a brown hue, as if 

 insecfts had sapped the plants or frost destro5'ed their 

 vitality. Rusted plants, when viewed closely, are 

 found to have the skin of the stems lifted, as if blis- 



I- 



<i/Ui 



FIG. 47 — PORTION OF RUSTED ASPARAGUS STEMS 



tered, and within the ruptures of the epidermis the 

 color is brown, as shown in Fig. 47. The brown color 

 is due to multitudes of spores borne upon the tips of 

 fine threads of the fungus, which aggregate at certain 

 points and cause the spots. The threads from which 

 the spores are produced are exceedinglj- small and 

 grow through the substance of the asparagus stem, 



