Bulletin No. 20, Division of Entomology, United 

 States Department of Agriculture. T/ie Root-Knot 

 Disease of (he Pencil, Orange and other Plants in Florida , 

 due to the work of Anguilliila. By J. C. Xeal. Pp. jr. 

 XXI Plates, mostly colored. The root-knot disease of 

 many plants, particularly in the south, has become ser- 

 ious and wide-spread. The difficulty is 

 Root-Knot, not a new one, for Dr. Neal tells us that 

 by Dr. Neal. it has been known " since the earliest set- 

 tlement of the South Atlantic and Gulf 

 States." "About 1S74 '1^'^ disease sprang into prom- 

 inence owing to the influx of immigrants, the develop- 

 ment of early market gardens, and the sudden rage for 

 orchards of peaches, figs and oranges." Many plants 

 are attacked by the nematodes, and as some pernicious 

 weeds are among the number, the danger of infection is 

 increased wherever cultivation is slack. The cultivated 

 plants which are attacked embrace "the greater part of 

 our most valuable food plants, fruit trees, and many of 

 the choicest flowers." The knot is caused by a minute 

 true worm, to which Dr. Neal gives the name Angnillula 

 arenaria; but the animal was long ago described and 

 named, and it is properly known as Heterodera radicicola . 

 The worm lives in the soft tissue of the young or herba- 

 ceous roots, causing a swelling or knot to form. This 

 knot takes characteristic forms in different plants. 



Dr. Neal concludes that " the disease is unknown be- 

 yond any point in the interior 150 miles from the coast " 

 of the southern states. This, however, is a mistake. 

 It is well known in many northern gardens, particularly 

 upon tomatoes, the clematis and other herbaceous or soft- 

 rooted plants. The disease is worst in moist or wet 

 •sandy soils, and upon young trees. If trees become 

 thoroughly established, little injury need be apprehend- 

 ed. In the way of remedies. Dr. Neal advises the follow- 

 ing : drainage ; exposure to frost ; heating the soil by 

 burning brush or weeds on it ; filling the hole in which 

 trees are set with uninfested soil ; disuse of land for a 

 time, in order to starve the worms ; the encouragement 

 of a " small, blackish-brown ant," which feeds upon the 

 worms and which prefers dry soils ; the use of various 

 alkalis upon the soil : the planting of non-infected stocks. 



The bulletin is designed as a practical discussion of 

 the subject, rather than a scientific contribution. 



Bulletin No. 9, Alabama Experiment Station. 

 Nematode Root-Galls. By Geo. /•'. Atkinson. Pp. 5./. VI 

 plates. This is the first number of a series of " Science 

 Contributions" from the Alabama Station, and it is the 

 most studious and best effort yet made in this country 



upon the root-knots. The paper is mostly of a technical 

 nature. The author enumerates 36 spec- 

 ies of plants which are affected by the ne- Root-Knot, 

 matode. The plants which are most in- by Atkinson, 

 jured, according to the observations made 

 at Auburn last year, are potato, tomato, a species of abut- 

 ilon, cow-pea, bird's foot clover, sunflower, watermelon, 

 musk melon, cabbage, ruta-baga, parsnip and salsify. 

 The treatments suggested are as follows : Sterilization 

 of the soil by starvation ; rotation of crops ; clean culti- 

 vation ; planting of healthy stocks ; care in making com- 

 posts ; trapping the worms by means of "catch plants." 

 This last method has been used with great success in 

 Germany in dealing with a similar disease of sugar beets. 

 Plants on which the nematodes thrive, but which mature 

 in a short time, are grown and then pulled and burned. 



Bulletin No. 85, California Experiment Station. 

 0/iser7'(jtions on Olive I'aneties. By ll\ G. R'lee. The 

 importance which olive culture is beginning to assume in 

 California renders this first account upon the 

 subject from any American experiment station Olives, 

 both interesting and valuable. The bulletin 

 does not pretend to have reached great results at this 

 early date ; but it presents an important and no\'el feat- 

 ure fn classifying the leading varieties in reference to the 

 proportion of pit to the remainder of the fruit. This re- 

 lationship is a vital pomt, both to picklers and oil makers, 

 and it appears to vary much between varieties. The fol- 

 lowing figures indicate the proportion, in bulk, which i\\e 

 pit bears to the pulp : Regalis, 7.8 ; Manzanillo No. i, 

 8.3; Nevadillo Blanco, 10; Pendulina, 11. 5; Columella, 

 II. 8; Mission, 15.6; Polymorpha, 15.8; Rubra, 16.7; 

 Rock's Oblonga, 18. 3 ; Mignola, 29 ; Redding Picholme, 

 33.3 ; Uvaria, 34.2. 



Bulletin No. 4, Virginia Experiment Station. 

 A Study of Tomatoes. By If'm. B. Ahoood and Walker 

 Bowman. Pp. iS. "As one among such special crops, 

 the culture of tomatoes holds a high rank. Statistics 

 sufficient to give definite information in regard to the 

 money value of this crop in Virginia have not yet been 

 collected by the Station ; judging, however, from generaj 

 statements, there must be in this state no less than 

 eighty, and probably as many as one hundred, canneries 

 working on this crop, either alone or in conjunction with 

 other fruits. In addition to this, the market crop grown 

 in the vicinity of Norfolk and on the eastern shore will 

 reach about one-half of the \alue of that used in the 

 canneries. Hence, it seems fair to say that the value 

 of the tomato crop grown for these two purposes alone 



