COMMERCIAL, DUTCH-BULB CULTURE. 35 



Columbia a planting of 400 bulbs was heavily mulched, and this 

 mulch was left on in the spring. Still no fire disease was discovered 

 on the plants and no evidence of the organism noted except in the 

 case of skinned bulbs, upon which a few of the black sclerotia, which 

 carry the organism over the dormant season, were found. This was 

 the report in spite of the fact that a test was made with over 100 

 bulbs in bad condition on account of being skinned and bruised. 

 These bulbs were produced at Bellingham and showed considerable 

 fire disease. 



DISEASES OF HYACINTHS. 



The hyacinth is troubled with enemies more than the other two 

 groups. The most serious trouble thus far has been the yellows, or 

 " new disease," which has been investigated by Wakker ^ and by 

 Smith.2 This is detected in the bulb by a softening when far ad- 

 vanced. If a bit of the nose of the bulb is cut off, the diseased con- 

 dition can be detected by the yellow discoloration appearing in rings, 

 segments of rings, or dots. It is a common practice with bulb grow- 

 ers to " nose " all bulbs planted, in order to detect this disease. Our 

 experience, however, shows that this practice leads to very serious 

 complications unless done with extreme care, so that we are now de- 

 cidedly of the opinion that it may be a wiser plan to cull carefully 

 without " nosing " and depend on taking out diseased plants during 

 the growing season. At that time the disease can be detected by 

 the water-soaked appearance of the plant and in advanced stages 

 by the wilting down of the leaves. Great care should be exercised 

 to cull out plants in the incipient stages of the disease in order to 

 prevent the spread of infection. The Dutch grower uses for the re- 

 moval of diseased plants a strong galvanized-iron tube 6 inches in 

 diameter and 2 feet long, like a giant cookie cutter. This is inserted 

 in the ground and a plug of earth, including the diseased bulb, is 

 removed and destroyed. This " snotkoker " we have not thus far 

 been able to use, on account of the greater density of our soils. 



Stock as free as possible from this disease should be secured for 

 propagation. It is not impossible, however, to clean up slightly in- 

 fected stocks, provided the effort is intelligent and persistent. This 

 cleaning has actually been accomplished upon our grounds by the 

 process of culling and selection previously mentioned. Every stej) 

 in the process of hyacinth culture should be carefully guarded, in 

 order to prevent the spread of this disease. 



1 Wakker, J. H. Contributions & la patbologie vegetale. In Arch. Neerland. Sci. Exact, 

 et Nat. t. 23, p. 18-20. 1889. 



2 Smith, Erwin F. Wakker's hyacinth germ. U. S. Dept. Agr., Div. Veg. Phys. and 

 Path., Bui. 26, 45 pages, 6 fig., 1 col. pi. 1901. 



