Plant Diseases. 23 



soil well stirred, and avoid deep planting on wet lands or 

 in cold weather. The lack of air in the soil and excessive 

 moisture often bring on disease. Low lands should be 

 well drained, a,nd if they are ever liable to become soggy 

 from excessive rains they should be tiled. Crops that are 

 to be grown in winter or early spring should be planted 

 on a slight ridge, and the surface of the ground should be 

 frequently stirred. This lets in the air and sunshine to 

 the roots of the plants and causes a healthy growth. It 

 goes a long way toward warding off disease. Any check 

 in the growth of a plant, no matter from what cause, in- 

 vites disease, and furthermore renders the plant less capa- 

 ble of resistance. Plants should never be transplanted 

 before a healthy growth is shown by the leaves. Plants 

 that are stunted and have not begun a vigorous growth will 

 show disease after being transplanted, where healtliy 

 plants would not. I have used nearly all the standard 

 fungicides which are recommended for, various plant dis- 

 eases, and I must say that results rarely ever justify their 

 use. In lieu of fungicides I would prescribe the harrow, 

 drainage, irrigation, and nitrate of soda, as the best rem- 

 edy for plant diseases in general. If disease is caused 

 from continuous growth of a crop on one piece of land, I 

 would advise a discontinuation of that crop until disease 

 has disappeared. Certain diseases are peculiar to certain 

 crops, and will not effect others, except in rare instances. 

 For instance I have grown 1,000 crates per acre of egg- 

 plant when it would not have produced ten crates per acre 

 of tomatoes, although these plants belong to the same 

 family. This land was badly infested with bacterial to 

 mato blight and would not grow tomatoes. 



