104 DISEASES OF GINSENG. 



"Whether the fungus is ever carried over on the seed is a question 

 yet to be settled. I have frequently observed that seedlings suf- 

 fered much less from attacks of the blight than do older plants. 

 However, under certain weather conditions and in gardens in 

 which the blight is epidemic, seedlings may also go down." Other 

 diseases such as damping off, and rot, etc., are far more frequent- 

 1 y the cause of destruction among seedlings than the blight. 

 Since I have clearly proven that the Alternaria fungus is regularly 

 carried over the winter on dead stalks on the beds, it seems far 

 more probable, in view of the above evidence, that the spores of the 

 parasite might be carried into new beds in soil with roots which 

 are transplanted. Of course, the fungus does not attack the roots, 

 but the spores might be clinging to the soil or crowns of the roots 

 and so be on hand at the surface of the new bed to infect the 

 stalk when it comes through the ground in the spring. 



This Alternaria fungus, so far as we know, attacks only 

 ginseng and is peculiar to that plant. I have found it on the wild 

 ginseng plant in the woods. It is quite certainly an old enemy of 

 the wild plant which, under the favorable conditions found in our 

 gardens, spreads with great rapidity and destructiveness. From 

 the fact that it appeared at about the same time throughout the 

 ginseng growing regions of the United States and in isolated gar- 

 dens many miles from any others, it would appear almost certain 

 that it was brought to many gardens at first on wild plants brought 

 in from the woods. During the early years of the cultivation of 

 this plant, in 1900 to 1906, it was a common practice for ginseng 

 growers to take long trips, visiting each other's gardens, to see 

 what others had and learn about the business. These visitors oft- 

 en went through several gardens in different localities within a 

 day or two, and, I feel quite sui-e, did more to spread the Alterna- 

 ria blight which became epidemic in 1903 and 1901 than did any 



