338 



Mycologia 



An interesting article on the Phyllosticta blight of snapdragon, 

 by Miss Edwina M. Smiley, appeared in Phytopathology for 

 April, 1920. Little has been done as yet on the control of this 

 disease, but the author advises the following precautionary meas- 

 ures. First, the removal of all debris from infested benches 

 before new plants are put in and the use of only healthy plants 

 for setting. The second precaution is the practice of soil water- 

 ing, with proper ventilation of the house. Finally, snapdragons 

 should be grown in cool houses, for the plants will do well in an 

 average temperature of 15 0 C, a temperature at which the fungus 

 can not thrive as a parasite. 



A drain-blocking fungus was noted by A. Lorrain Smith in the 

 Transactions of the British Mycological Society for April, 1920. 

 In September, 1919, about fifty pounds of fungous material were 

 taken from a sewer-pipe in London, thirty feet below the surface 

 of the ground, and determined by Mr. Rea as Fomes ulmarius, 

 which grows on elm trees. Since elm roots, like those of poplars 

 and willows, often travel long distances in search of water, it is 

 probable that the Fomes was connected in some way with elm 

 roots or their remains in the pipe or adjacent soil. The fungous 

 material was found in four different places and was removed at 

 great cost. 



Professor F. S. Earle spent several days at the Garden the past 

 summer consulting the library in connection with his work on 

 sugar-cane diseases in Porto Rico. Speaking of the mosaic, he 

 said that he had proved by careful experiments that this very 

 serious disease can be controlled by using only healthy seed and 

 eradicating all infected plants as soon as they appear in the field. 

 Something immensely interesting regarding the nature of this 

 mosaic was also disclosed, which will soon appear in print. Re- 

 ferring to root-rot of sugar-cane, he said that all that had been 

 written about Marasmius Sacchari in this connection was pure 

 fiction, because it had nothing to do with the rot. 



