512 



THE CENTURY BOOK OF GARDENING-. 



clear that it is foolish to plant another crop which is liable to the attacks of this fungus in 

 soil that is impregnated with its spores, so that the ground should either be given a heavy 

 dressing of lime, or, better still, of gas lime, and no cruciferous plants should be grown on 

 it for at least two years. Every morsel of an infested crop should be removed from the 

 ground and burnt, not thrown on rubbish heaps. 



CARNATIONS. — The leaves of these favourite flowers are liable to the attacks of two 

 or three different kinds of fungi. Cutting off the diseased leaves and spraying the plants 

 afterwards with Bordeaux mixture or sulphide of potassium every ten days until there is 

 no more sign of the fungus is the best cure. Care should also be taken that the proper 

 amount of water is given to the plants. 



CHRYSANTHEMUMS are often injured by one or more of these parasites attacking their 

 leaves. The Chrysanthemum rust (Puccinea hieracii) is perhaps the most destructive. 

 1 his forms small dark brown masses of spores on the under-sides of the leaves, being sometimes 

 so numerous as to almost entirely cover them. As soon as the attack is noticed the plants 

 should be sprayed with a solution of sulphide of potassium every ten or fourteen days until the 

 disease entirely disappears. Isolate the plants that are attacked, and pick' off all the affected 

 leaves. The same treatment will be appropriate for other fungoid pests. 



HOLLYHOCKS are very subject to a fatal pest, the Hollyhock rust (Puccinea malva- 

 cearum), which a few years ago rendered the cultivation of Hollyhocks a very difficult, 

 if not an impossible, task in some parts of England. It forms a number of small round 

 excrescences on the leaves, stems, and fruit. Pick off all the infested leaves and burn them, 

 and on no account allow them to lie and decay on the ground. Spray the plants with Bordeaux 

 mixture as soon as the slightest sign of the disease makes its appearance, and keep spraying 

 every now and then until it disappears. 



LILIES. — These favourite flowers, particularly the Madonna Lily (Lilium candidum), 

 are liable to be attacked by the Lily disease (Botrytis cinerea), which has proved very fatal in 

 many parts of the country. The best remedy appears to be spraying with Bordeaux mixture 

 occasionally, and picking off and burning the affected parts. A correspondent of one of the 

 gardening papers took up his bulbs which had been attacked, put them into a brown paper bag 

 with a quantity of flowers of sulphur, and shook them w ell up until the sulphur had worked 

 between the scales of the bulbs, which were then replanted, and showed no signs of the 

 disease the next season. 



PEAR TREES. — These trees and their fruit suffer from much the same pests as Apples. 



POTATOES. — The Potato disease (Phytophthora infestans) is too well known to require 

 any description. The best means of preventing an attack are to grow the kinds that are least 

 liable to be attacked, and not to grow them again on ground that has borne an infested crop for 

 at least two years. Every scrap of such a crop that cannot be used for human food should be 

 burnt, and not given as food to any animals, and if a crop is attacked, the leaves should at 

 once be sprayed with Bordeaux mixture. 



ROSES. — There are at least three well-known fungi that attack these plants — the 

 mildew (Sphasrotheca pannosa), the Rose rust (Phragmidium subcorticum), and the black' 

 spot (Actinonema rosas). Spraying w ith sulphide of potassium checks the mildew, and the 

 affected shoots should be cut off and burnt. The leaves which have been attacked by the rust 

 should be collected and burnt as soon as they have fallen, and the bushes well sprayed the 

 following spring with sulphate of copper before the buds open. The infested leaves should be 

 sprayed with Bordeaux mixture. The best remedy for the black spot is to pick' off the leaves 

 that are attacked and burn them. 



TOMATOES. — The sleeping disease of this plant is one that does an immense amount of 

 injury at times, and it is one for which no remedy is known, as the fungus finds its way into 

 the plants through their roots, and no outward application of an insecticide can be of any use. 

 After a bad attack', the best thing to do is to clear both plants and soil out of the house 



