DISEASES AHD OTHER ENEMIES. 



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spreading foliage, will prevent the collection of the dew 

 upon the leaves, and thus check the fungus, so depend- 

 ent upon moisture for its propagation." 



The Hyacinth Disease proper is ascribed to a micro- 

 scopic organism, cylindrical in shape, and about four 

 times as long as broad. Walker, who has studied this 

 destructive disease extensively, named the germ Bacte- 

 rium hyacinthi, and brief accounts of the species may 

 be found in the leading works on bacteriology, as in 

 Sternberg, under Bacillus hyacinthi septicus, Page 651. 

 The germs are, in appearance, almost identical with 

 those of many diseases of a contagious nature among 

 animals and man. This is only one of many instances 

 when a species of the higher plants is a victim to the 

 ravages of one or more of the microscopic organisms, 

 also vegetable in nature ; the Sorghum Blight and the 

 fire blight of Pears being two other examples. The Hy- 

 acinth bulbs that are affected with the above named bac- 

 terium, when cut through with a knife, show small pits 

 filled with a yellow mucilage. It is in this slime that 

 the micro-organism in question abounds. At the time 

 of flowering, the diseased plants in the field show yellow 

 streaks in the leaves, prominent at the base, and disap- 

 pearing toward the tip. In these yellow lines the bac- 

 teria swarm, in a slime which resembles that of the 

 bulbs. It will be seen that little needs be said in way of 

 description of the Hyacinth Disease, and there is not 

 much yet to write as to the treatment. A bulb that 

 exhibits the yellow slime in cross section would, if set in 

 the field, produce a diseased plant. The nature of the 

 malady is such that the application of fungicides for sick 

 plants, while not without hope, does not promise great 

 things. Careful watching for the disease and rejecting 

 affected bulbs are the chief remedial agents. 



There is a black rot of the Hyacinth, also found 

 upon Narcissus and Scilla bulbs, that is probably a first 

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