DISEASES OF GINSENG. 61 



HISTORY. Just when the disease first appeared in Ginseng gar- 

 dens, cannot be determined. Doubtless it has been present in some 

 gardens since they were first planted. It is certain that the disease 

 is a natural malady of the wild ginseng plant. The natural anti- 

 pathy of the grower, in the early days of the cultivation of this 

 crop, against admitting the presence of any disease in his stock, 

 which was largely to be sold for planting new gardens, doubtless 

 prevented, to some extent, the prompt reporting of this disease 

 when it first appeared. It does not seem probable, however, that 

 the disease was very common or destructive prior to 1904. Van 

 Hook ('04), who first studied the diseases of ginseng, does not men- 

 tion this disease in his bulletin, published in the spring of 1904. 

 The Alternaria leaf spot described on page 183 — 184, Figs. 39 and 

 40, is certainly not the disease now commonly known as Alternaria 

 Blight. Neither the spots nor the fungus figured are the same as 

 that of the disease here to be described. That Van Hook saw 

 some cases of the true Alternaria Blight, is quite pi-obable, but he 

 doubtless confused it with leaf injury from ashes. Had the blight 

 been as common and destructive during 1902 and 1903 as it has 

 been since that time. Van Hook would certainly have observed it 

 in some of his travels about the State when he was investigating 

 the diseases of ginseng. For this reason, the writer is inclined to 

 the opinion that the very serious outbreaks of the disease in differ- 

 ent gardens in 1904 marks the beginning of the history of this 

 disease as a serious pest of cultivated ginseng. During succeeding 

 years it has made its appearance in gardens all over the ginseng 

 growing regions of the United States and Canada. We have 

 specimens and reports of the ravages of the malady from as far 

 west as Wisconsin and Kansas, south to Virginia, the Carolinas, 

 and Tennessee, to the Atlantic Ocean on the East and North to 

 Canada and Michigan. This almost universal distribution of the 



