208 
Supplement to the Tr< 
•apical Agriculturist." [Sept. 1, 1894. 
instead of animal manures, also to tile use of 
burnt ashes and mortar rubble, with gritty stuff 
of all sorts in the soil, to a large extent. My soil 
isgreensand, but goes very closely together when 
rammed, which I find is necessary for Tomatoes. 
The ashes keep the soil sweet. — F. Williams. 
" I take it Mr. ¥. Williams (page 9) is alluding to 
the Phytophthvra infestans when lie -peaks of the 
drooping disease in Tomatoes ; at least I do not 
know any other disease which makes the plants 
droop. I have not experienced the good result 
mentioned by your correspondent by top-dressing 
or earthing ii]) the plants, though I have tried il 
this season. It seems to me aim «t impossible to 
outgrow it, for the moment we see a pliut droop- 
ing bi;own patches of the fungi can be seen on the 
stem, showing quite clearly the tissue is destroyed 
and incapable of taking up or rather passing 
along further supplies of food. In all probability 
the earthing up as described by y-rir correspon- 
dent would answer, provided the diseased parts 
were near the roots or low on the stem. 
"At the present time I have oily had ten at- 
tacked in a house containing about 4 ) J plants, SO 
1 cannot complain of its ravages. 1 have grown 
many plants in pots, so that I can always fill a 
blank space, and my method of procedure is 
briefly this: when a plant is noticed drooping it 
is pulled up at once and promptly put in the lire, 
then one of the large plants in pots is used to fill 
up the vacancy. By this method no space is lost, 
and as the plaats are large they do not make any 
noticeable difference in the house. 1 trust en- 
tirely to chemical manures for feeding purposes, 
because I rind animal manure added to the loam 
causes the plants to grow grossly, whereas by 
planting out in firm loam a sturdy growth follows, 
and a good set results from such treatment. Im- 
mediately the first truss of bloom sets the feeding 
commences. 
" I am under the impression that this particular 
fungoid pest can be almost avoided by careful 
and constant attention in ventilating and water- 
ing. While a light buoyant atmosphere is main- 
tained very little trouble will be given ; but allow 
the air to become charged with moisture and the 
ventilators closed for a few hours in the early 
morning, and the disease will readily appear. I 
have no doubt spraying with a Bordeaux mixture 
will prove very helpful where the plants are 
grown in single rows, so that the work may be 
done thoroughly, but I question its utility where 
the plants are grown thickly, as in market 
culture— J as. B. Eiding." 
Lastly, we have the opinion of the management 
of the Journal of Horticulture, given under the 
heading of answers to correspondents :— 
" In a thorough examination of your plant we 
found no pronounced disease. The roots were 
quite clean and healthy, free from nodules, excres- 
cences, and root-knots. On the root-stem and at 
the part where the radicle or tap root had assumed 
the fibrous formation we found " canker," which 
had destroyed the bark, quite encircling the part 
affected arid causing the destruction of the cam- 
bial layers, also the underlying woody tissue. _ In 
this there ware some mycelial threads, possibly 
those of the Potato disease fungus (Phytopthora 
infestans), but that is not by any means certain, 
as there were no outgrowths, " fruits " or repro- 
ductive bodies, and could not produce the canker. 
This yielded, in an nlcoholic solution, a va*t num- 
ber of minute bodies or spores, which belong to 
the Myxomyeetes or family of slime fungi. There 
was, however, no "slime," nor any abnormal 
swelling of the tissue or Cells, or any ferm.-nt, 
such as usually accompanies attacks of Schizomy- 
cetas (bacteria^. This condition may have been 
due to the disease being only in t lie initiatory 
stage, aud could only be determined by examina- 
tion of a plant which had succumbed or was suc- 
cumbing to it in acute form. The stem of the 
plant above ground showed no signs of disease, 
and the fruits were quite clean and normal. The 
leaves were in some parts affected with "brown- 
ing" — that is, they were dark brown or blnckened, 
"drooping," and the tissue destroyed. This part 
had n clammy "feel," such as indicates (he pre- 
sence of Plasmodiophoni, or slime fungus, but we 
were unable to detect anything beyond the disrup- 
tion of the tissues or cells, which were not 
abnormally large, .and t he adjacent cells merely 
showed traces of discolouration. The examina- 
tion leads to the deduction that the '• drooping " 
is occ:isioned by " browning," and is caused by ■ 
fungus, similar to that producing " browning" in 
Vines (see pages 319). If not the same it is an 
allied species of Plastnodiophora, which for t lie 
sake of distinction may be called P. lycojterrici, 
though it also attacks Potatoes and causes the 
leaflets to wither and the tubers to be compara- 
tively small, but perfectly free from disease. The 
fungus is unquestionably introduced with the soil 
or manure, as it has a great liking for decaying 
organic matter, aud, though mainly a saprophyte, 
has been found in living tissues, the contents of 
which it speedily appropriates. Your soil seems 
of a vegetable or rather warpy nature ; it cer- 
tainly is alluvial, aud needs lime. This is the best 
antidote to Plasmodiophora, therefore we advise 
your giving the plants a dressing of quicklime, 
fresh slaked, but cool, not using less nor much 
more than a peck per rod, and washing it in at 
once moderately. In future seasons we advise 
mixing one-tenth part of quicklime with the soil 
about a month or six weeks before using it for the 
plants. Cutaway all the " drooping leaves und 
parts of the plants and burn them. This should 
be done early, and be followed up as required. 
Under that routine the plants will generally grow 
out of the disease, or it will not prejudice the 
perfecting of the crop, though it will reduce the 
number aud size of the fruit." 
As regards the disease which seems to con- 
fine itself to the fruits, we have the followiug opi- 
nion given under the authority of the journal : — 
"The fruits sent are infested with the destructive 
parasite Cladosporium. lycopersici. This fungus 
causes the decay of the fruit. It begins with 
a minute black spot, which surrounds the small 
decaying style. The black spot gradually in- 
creases in size by new circles of growth, one 
beyond another in the style of fairy rings. The 
fungus growth at the same time flattens the 
apex of the fruit, till at last the whole sub- 
stance is blackened and entirely destroyed 
by the Cladosporium. The fungus spreads from 
the leaves, also from one fruit to another, till 
at last leaves, stems, and fruits are all alike 
decayed. The brown spores of this Cladosporium 
are often produced in such enormous numbers 
upon both sicles o£ the foliage that they fly 
