290 Gardening 
root; but it is also known as “ clubfoot ” or the “ finger 
and toe ”’ disease. 
The fungus causing this disease lives, during one stage 
of its life, in the soil. It enters the roots of its host, 
and multiplies by a simple kind of budding process. 
After a period of feeding, during which the host becomes 
greatly weakened, many spores are produced by the 
fungus within the roots. Later, when the roots of the 
dead host decay, these spores become mingled with the 
soil. Under proper conditions, which usually occur 
during early spring, they germinate and infest plants of 
the new crop. 
Means of control. All diseased plants should be dug 
up and burned, care being taken to get all the roots out 
of the soil. If the disease appears in cold frames or 
hotbeds, one must remove and discard all the soil, and 
thoroughly clean out flats and frames before using for 
another year. The destruction of diseased plants and 
the cleaning of-frames is one of the first remedies to 
use in preventing the disease. 
A second method of combating the disease is to plant 
in the infected soil crops not attacked by it. Do not 
grow cabbage on ground where cabbage was attacked the pre- 
vious year, and do not use soil from infected areas to grow 
seedlings of cabbage. If the disease appears in an early 
crop, do not plant a late crop of cabbage in the same 
earth, but use this space for late crops of some vege- 
table that is not subject to the disease, such as endive 
or celery. 
As the fungus thrives best in an acid soil, the appli- 
cation of lime to the land helps in controlling the disease. 
