286 TIMBER AND SOME OF ITS DISEASES, [chap. 



and so the old beds may be employed for planting 

 purposes. In the event of a patch of diseased seed- 

 lings being found in the seed-bed, as in our illustration 

 quoted above, the procedure is as follows : cover the 

 whole patch with soil as quietly and quickly as possible, 

 for obviously this will be safer than lifting and shaking 

 the spore-laden plantlets. If, however, the sharp eye 

 of an intelligent gardener or forester detects one or 

 two isolated seedlings showing the early stages of the 

 disease, it is possible to remove the single specimens 

 and burn them, care being taken that the fingers, &c., 

 do not rub off spores on to other seedlings. 



In the last event, the beds must be looked to every 

 day to see that the disease is not spreading. All 

 undue shading must be removed, and light and air 

 allowed free play during part of the day at least ; by 

 such precautions, carefully practised in view of the 

 above facts and their consequences, it is quite feasible 

 to eradicate the disease in cases where ignorant or 

 stupid mismanagement would result in the loss of 

 valuable plants and time. In the case of other seed- 

 lings also, much may be done by intelligently applying 

 our knowledge of the disease and its cause. It is not 

 our purpose at present to deal with the diseases of 

 garden plants, &c., but it may be remarked in passing 

 that in the large majority of cases the " damping off" 



