INSECTS, DISEASES AND OTHER PESTS 24I 



felt and a slight twist is sufficient to slough off the bark, 

 beneath which is usually a slimy, wet area which gives 

 this rot its characteristic name. Often, however, the 

 stem is dry at the point of attack and upon breaking off 

 the stem the fibres seem to be separated giving a brush-Hke 

 appearance to the broken stem in contrast to the firm stem 

 of the branch rot. 



There seems to be httle or no damping off of the 

 Carnation cuttings in the cutting bench, due to the fungus 

 Rhizoctonia. In fact, we have never seen Rhizoctonia 

 attack Carnation cuttings in the bench, although experi- 

 ments have shown that the fungus will readily kill the 

 cuttings. Stem rot, then, does not seem to be trouble- 

 some until the young plants are put into the field. During 

 certain seasons Httle or no stem rot will be found, while 

 at other times the whole field will be infected. This, of 

 course, depends to a large extent on the weather conditions 

 governing both the growth of the fungus and Carnation 

 plants. 



From observations in the Carnation field during the 

 recent Summers, the following conclusions, some of which 

 are doubtless well known, but which will bear repeat- 

 ing, have been reached: 



(i) When plants are put out in the field in the 

 Spring they are very liable to be set too deeply, which 

 perhaps may bring about some morphological difference 

 in the stem just at the surface of the ground, causing 

 the plant to become more susceptible to stem rot. Great 

 care should be exercised in planting the plants to the 

 required depth. The same precautions should be taken 

 when the plants are taken into the house in the Fall. 



(2) From data collected from diseased plants in the 

 field, it was noticed that a plant with a single stem which 



