192 



FUNGI INJURIOUS TO TOMATOES. 



There have been numerous complaints this season of serious 

 injury to tomatoes caused by fungi, and it appears that fun- 

 goid affections of the tomato plant, especially when cultivated 

 under glass, are increasing. There are several fungi which 

 attack tomatoes. One, the Cladosporium lycopersut, which 

 attacks the fruit alone, was described in the Journal of the 

 Board of Agriculture," Vol. III., p. 154. In the present 

 year two others have been especially troublesome, viz., 

 Cladosporiu-m fulvum^ and Fusarinm lycopersici^ commonly 

 called the " sleeping disease." 



The fungus Cladospormm fulvum yellow blight of which 

 a figure is given on next page, is frequently the cause of great 

 losses in tomato-houses, and it is difficult to stamp out when 

 it has once become established. It is well known in Great 

 Britain, in the United States, in France, and in German}^ 

 At one time it was very destructi\e to tomato plants in 

 Guernsey, but latterly, owing to careful treatment and better 

 management of the temperature and aeration of the houses, it 

 has not been nearly so troublesome. The fungus shows itself, 

 soon after the plant has become well established, upon the 

 under surfaces of the leaves in the form of patches, which are 

 seen with the aid of a glass to be whitish tufts composed ot 

 spore-bearing branches. These patches after a time become 

 brownish in colour as the spores ripen and are discharged. 

 The upper parts of the infected leaves become yellowish, first 

 at their tips and afterwards all over their upper surfaces. 

 The leaves after a time shrivel up and cannot perform their 

 proper functions. The plant either does not form fruit, or if 

 fruit is formed it is small, misshapen, and ripens prematurely. 

 In some cases the fungus attacks the fruit itself and is seen 



