62 DISEASES OF GINSENG. 



disease is to be explained in the writer's opinion, from the fact 

 that it is a natural malady of the wild plant. He has collected the 

 blighted leaves from the plants in the woods. That the fungus 

 causing the disease has been carried from garden to garden by 

 visitors, the spores clinging to their clothing, seems more than 

 probable. This would explain the very general dissemination of 

 the parasite in a given locality or region. It will, however, hardly 

 account for the appearance of the disease in widely separated re- 

 gions or in isolated gardens far from the main centers of ginseng 

 cultivation. It would seem but reasonable to hold that the fungus 

 had found its wa.v originally into each region, or isolated gardens 

 on the wild plants that served as the original stock. The history 

 of the disease has been that, where once established in a garden, its 

 complete eradication is quite out of the question. So long as 

 thorough and systematic control measures are applied the disease 

 may lie held in check and its ravages reduced to a minimum. 

 Weather conditions unfavorable to the fungus may in some seasons 

 serve to delude the grower into the notion, that the disease has 

 disappeared. The recurrence of favorable weather, however, soon 

 dissillusions him, and he finds his plants again going down before 

 the onslaughts of the blight. The grower who has had one lesson 

 should never need another. The grower who has never experi- 

 enced a blight epidemic should equip himself to meet it, otherwise 

 he will eventually suffer the consequences (Fig. 21). While the 

 disease is certain to appear and disaster follow, if neglected, it can 

 be controlled. The cause of the disease has been definitely demon- 

 strated. An effective method of control has been worked out and 

 repeatedly shown to be effective. The wise grower will accept 

 proven facts and methods, will inform himself of the nature and 

 habits of the blight fungus and will not be lead astray by absurd 

 theories and superstitions beliefs as to the nature of the disease 

 and its control. 



