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Wheat Rust. — In Bulletin No. 26 of the Indiana 

 Agicultural Experiment Station, H. L. BoUey discusses 

 at length the question of wheat rust. This disease of the 

 cereal has generally been attributed to the growth of the 

 fungus Puccinia gyaminis, but the author shows that two 

 other sub-epidermal rusts, P. corona/a and P. yttbigo-vera, 

 also play a very important part in the damaging of 

 wheat. The wheat rust belongs to the so-called heteyoc- 

 cisiinal fungi, which produce in one season several ap- 

 parently distinct stages. These stages are three — the 

 production of the aecidiospores upon the barberry early in 

 the spring ; the production of the uredospores, later on, 

 upon the wheat plant, and finally the production of the 

 telentospores or black rust, often in the same pustules 

 with the uredospores. 



Heretofore it has generally been supposed that the 

 first infection of the wheat plant came from the aecidio- 

 spores of the barberry, and upon this ground it has rea- 

 sonably been supposed that a destruction of the bar- 

 berry meant protection from rust. The author holds that 

 the first or aecidium stage is not a necessary stage in the 

 rust of wheat, and that more danger may lurk in old 

 wheat stubble than in barberry bushes, however near. 



The fact proved by the author that the threads of one 

 species of rust, P. yidngo-veya , may remain alive throu'gh 

 the winter in the old wheat plant is of great importance. 

 For upon the advent of warm moist spring weather 

 these deeply-rooted threads give rise to an abundant crop 

 of uredospores, enough to infect a whole second year's 

 growth. Winter wheat, according to the author, sown 

 upon stubble fields from which a crop of wheat or other 

 small grain has just been taken, is particularly liable to 

 an attack of rust ; he therefore advises the thorough 

 burning over of the old stubble to destroy all spores and 

 every trace of fungus thread (mycelium). 



Some additional conclusions of the author are : 



1. Moist conditions are most favorable to the develop- 

 ment of rust. 



2. Low lying rich soils are most subject to the disease. 



3. It is believed that an excess of nitrogen in the soil 

 will produce a wheat more liable to rust ; hence the author 

 advises the use of non-nitrogenous fertilizers. 



4. In districts liable to severe visitations of the dis- 

 ease, early ripening wheats are to be preferred. 



Black Rot of the Tomato. — In the report of the De- 

 partment of Agriculture, rSSS, Mr. B. T. Galloway dis- 

 cusses the above disease of the tomato. The disease 

 generally appears at the apex of the fruit when one- 



half to two-thirds grown, when it 

 shows itself as a small blackish 

 spot, which rapidly increases in 



size. As the disease progresses, the tissue beneath the 

 diseased area collapses and the fruit, as a result, be- 

 comes flattened. This flattened area becomes hard and 

 leathery, and assumes a greenish black velvety appear- 

 ance. The author finds this disease to be the result 

 of two species of fungi, the Macrospoyium tomato and 

 the Fiisayiitin solani. 



The author advises the burning in the fall of old 

 vines, also the burning or burial of all affected fruit, in 

 order to destroy as much of the infecting material as 

 possible. The excessive use of stable manure is not ad- 

 vised, inasmuch as it is believed that thereby the ten- 

 dency of the fruit to crack is increased, the fissures thus 

 caused opening the way to the entrance of spores. No 

 experiments with fungicides have yet been tried. 



Black Rot of the Grape. — In the Jouynal of Mycology, 

 vol. 5, No. 2, Mr. B. T. Galloway gives the results of an 

 interesting experiment respecting the ascospores, or 

 winter spores, of the grape rot. It is well known that it 

 is this last set of spores, living in the berries through- 

 out the winter, which carries the disease over from one 

 season into another. They are, therefore, found during 

 the spring and early summer months in the old berries 

 which were affected the previous season with the disease. 



Old berries, which had laid on the ground all winter, 

 were collected May 10, 1888, and buried to the depth of 

 three inches in garden soil. On the 22d of April, of the 

 following year, these berries were dug up and examined 

 microscopically, with the result that the pustules were 

 entirely empty of all spores. The supposition is that 

 during the first summer the ascospores escaped from the 

 berries, germinated in the warm moist earth and then 

 died. 



This experiment makes it probable that the plowing 

 under of old berries in the spring may become a cheap 

 and easy way of getting rid of an enormous quantity of 

 infecting material before the rot has time to make its ap- 

 pearance. 



Leaf Spot of the Rose. — In the report of the De- 

 partment of Agriculture, 1888, Mr. B. T. Galloway de- 

 scribes the above disease of rose leaves. The trouble 

 must not be confounded with the black spot, caused by 

 an entirely different fungus (actinonema). In this latter 

 case the spots are always black from the beginning, and 

 with no reddish tinge. In the present disease the spots 



