34 



TEE AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 



"Herbarium." Whether these are cor- 

 rectly determined or not Dr. Stapf cannot 

 say at present ; they differ somewhat 

 from the majority of the Kew specimens 

 of P. dilatatus collected in South America. 

 The plant in question is certainly intro- 

 duced in Natal as in the case in Mauritius.' 

 There is a touch of uncertainty in tlie 

 description, and 1 have had no farther in- 

 formation ; but since then I have myself 

 carefully compared this grass with the 

 standard descriptions of dilatatum, and 1 

 have not a doubt that the genuine dilata- 

 tum is already growing, although probably 

 in small accidental patches only, in various 

 parts of the Colony. The testimony with 

 regard to its economic properties by Baron 

 F. von Mueller supports what was pub- 

 lished in the last issue of the Journal :— 

 ' Paspalum dilatatum : Perennial, of ex- 

 cellent quality for fodder ; keeps green 

 during the hottest summer time. It grew 

 4^ feet in little more than two months in 

 New South Wales, after a drought which 

 was followed by heavy rains. It is re- 

 ported to have extraordinary drought 

 resistance. Introduced into Australia by 

 Baron F. von Mueller.' 



'It mav be worth mentioning that I feel 

 pretty sure that I saw the paspalum. 



dilatatum in 1898, I think half-way be- 

 tween Greytown and Maritzburg, when 

 travelling by post-cart. 



" Yes, if I ?et aay seed I shall, of course, 

 try to raise a small quantity of the grass 

 in the Gardens, but such kiud of experi- 

 mental work we can only do on a very 

 small scale here. 



"I shall, as you suggest, send a specimen 

 of the dried grass to the Commissioner of 

 Agriculture for the use of the Department. 

 If any wish to see the grass green and 

 growing — though it is now somewhat late 

 in the year— they will have to go to New- 

 castle, "unless by the verbal descriptions, 

 and the dried specimens, they can identify 

 it growing nearer. My nephew, Mr. 

 Frank McKen, at Messrs. Oldknow's store, 

 kuows the grass, and I have no doubt will 

 be happy to point it out to any who take 

 an interest in it." 



With reference to the propagation of 

 I'aspalam dilatatum., it may interest 

 Natal nurserymen to learn that in 

 Australia their confreres make the sale of 

 roots one of the features of their business. 

 The roots are commonly retailed at £1 

 per 1,000, or 2s. 6d. per 100. 



Mealie Blight. 



ANOTHER FORM. 



By Claude Fuller, 



AMONG the several notes which have 

 appeared in these pages under the 

 above heading, one contributed by Mr. 

 John Marwick, of Richmond, will be re- 

 membered with pai'ticular interest. In the 

 course of his remarks Mr. Marwick laid 

 stress upon the fact that two diseases had 

 come under h'S observation, one character- 

 ised by the variegation or yellow striping 

 of the leaves, and' another disease of a 

 des\ructive nature. I have never had the 

 fortune to have specimens of the second 

 disease from Mr. Marwick (perhaps my 

 misfortune in this matter is his good for- 

 tune), but 1 have recently had my atten- 

 tion called to a second form of mealie 

 blight at Mooi River, which has 

 much more serious results than the 



jrnment Entomologist, 

 striped-leaf disease. This particular dis- 

 ease is due to a fungus related to that 

 which causes potato blight in Natal, and 

 is, I believe, identical with Helminthos- 

 'porium. turcicum. This fungus is com- 

 monly called Maize Blight, and has been 

 recorded from Southern Europe, Queens- 

 land, and the United States. A field 

 suffering from its attack has a general 

 sickly yellow appearance, and looks as if 

 it were suffering from bad drainage and 

 an excess of water about the roots of the 

 plants. 



The disease first appears in the form of 

 numerous, small pale patches upon the 

 blades, and these are easily seen to be 

 within the tissue, and not at all superfi- 

 cial. These small patches gradually in- 



