Wartcd Foliage 



moisture and growing rapidly in a high temperature 

 is thin and papery and readily open to fungus attack. 

 A peculiar effect of these conditions is seen in leaves 

 of vines, tomatoes, and sundry other plants, where 

 some of the cells on the lower surface of the leaves 

 attain an extraordinary size through the amount of 

 water they contain, so that warty growths are formed 

 upon them. These growths not infrequently dry up 

 when the atmosphere becomes dry, and form brown 

 or almost black lumps on the leaves, which are often 

 attributed to fungi or insects. Attention to a proper 

 balance of light, air, heat, and moisture wHl avoid 

 all these dangers to the health of plants, and it must 

 be manifest that at times the cultivator, in his efforts 

 to obtain greater returns, gambles on the chance of 

 a plant adapting itself sufficiently to adverse con- 

 ditions to avoid serious damage, and if it does not 

 and he loses, he has only himseK to blame. 



Shanking of grapes is another trouble connected 

 with the water-supply. At certain times in the hfe 

 of a plant a greater demand for water has to be met, 

 and can be met only when the roots are in good 

 condition. We have seen that waterlogging of the 

 soil and other conditions may lead to the death of 

 roots, and it is when this has occurred that shanking 

 is most frequent. When the berries have enlarged 

 more water is called for, and if it cannot be had the 

 berries and the stalks that support them shrivel or 

 " shank." An opposite result, the splitting of the 



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