B. P. I.— 540. 



SOME FUNGOUS DISEASES OF ECONOMIC 

 IMPORTANCE. 



I.-MISCELLANEOUS DISEASES. 



By Flora W. Patterson, Mycologist, and Vera K. Charles, Scientific Assistant. 



DISEASE OF SEDGE CAUSED BY KAWAKAMIA CYPERI. 

 INTRODUCTION. 



For a number of years the Office of Seed and Plant Introduction of 

 the Bureau of Plant Industry has been at work on the problem of the 

 introduction into the Southern States of the Chinese and Japanese 

 matting industries. One of the most important plants concerned in 

 the industry is a species of sedge, Cyperus tegetiformis Roxb. It is 

 a native of China, growing in the marshes along the coast. Large 

 shipments of this sedge were secured by a representative of the United 

 States Department of Agriculture who went to Japan for that pur- 

 pose. These sedges were propagated at the Plant Introduction Gar- 

 den at Chico, Cal., and were sent from there to Texas, Louisiana, and 

 South Carolina, where they were planted in fields for the purpose of 

 producing matting straw for manufacturers. 



In the early spring of 1908 there appeared in the Texas plantation, 

 located at Pierce, a very destructive disease which threatened to de- 

 stroy the whole plantation. Specimens of this diseased sedge were 

 submitted for examination, and it was found that the disease in ques- 

 tion, which had been imported with the plants from Japan, was a new 

 parasitic species recently described in Japanese literature. As soon 

 as the serious character of this disease was known and determined as 

 belonging to the destructive order of Peronosporacea?, steps were im- 

 mediately taken by the agent in the field, Mr. F. W. Clarke, to treat 

 the disease according to the experience which has. been gained by 

 years of experiment with the grapevine disease Plasmopara viticola 

 \B. & C.) Berl. and De Toni. 



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