472 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER 
[ June 4, 1885. 
*** All correspondence should be directed either to “The Editor ” 
or to “ The Publisher.’' Letters addressed to Dr. Hogg or 
members of the staff often remain unopened unavoidably. We 
root disease has been figured and described in the Journal by Mr. 
Worthington G. Smith ; and as the numbers containing the illustration and 
notes in question are out of print we reproduce them, to make the matter 
plain to you and others :—“ The root-nodules are generally assumed to have 
a fungus origin, but the Rev. M. J. Berkeley long ago described the disease, 
and showed it to be caused by a parasite of another nature. The description 
he illustrated with the utmost accuracy. It would seem that the pest 
which causes the mischief is not always readily seen, or maybe it escapes 
into the surrounding soil, or, after working the mischief, perishes ; but that 
it is sometimes difficult or even impossible to detect, Mr. Berkeley himself 
confesses. For our part we have frequently seen the interior of the 
nodules just in the condition described by Mr. Berkeley, with the parasites 
in all stages of growth, from the egg condition upwards. Our illustration 
represents on the left the diseased roots natural size, and on the right a thin 
slice through one of the nodules of the roots. The latter is an exact 
reflection from a camera lucida attached to the microscope, and shows the 
Fig. 116.—Cucumber Root Disease. 
request that no one will write privately to any of our correspon¬ 
dents, as doing so subjects them to unjustifiable trouble and 
expense. 
Correspondents should not mix up on the same sheet questions relat¬ 
ing to Gardening and those on Bee subjects, and should never 
send more than two or three questions at once. All articles in¬ 
tended for insertion should be written on one side of the paper 
only. We cannot reply to questions through the post, and we 
do not undertake to return rejected communications. 
Late Apple (C. M. Brewiri ).—It is a pity the Apple you sent has been 
so badly kept. It will be a good late kitchen sort if it can be kept as you 
say till August without shrivelling. 
Santolina (J. P .).—The Lavender Cotton (Santolina Chamaecyparissus) is 
a small shrubby plant with silvery leaves, and is very suitable for a rockery 
or bord er. It is included in the natural order Composite, and the flowers 
of this and allied species have been used like Chamomile. Plants can be 
procured of any nurseryman who deals in hardy plants. 
Cucumber Root3 Diseased (ZT. IT., York). —We regret the condition of 
your plants, and the more so since the disease, we fear, is incurable. This 
cellular tissue, A ; pitted and spiral vessels, B ; the worms coiled up in the 
eggs, c ; worms emerged, D ; and empty eggs, E, from which the worms 
have escaped. Mr. Berkeley refers these parasites to vibrios, which belong 
to the infusoria (properly confervoid Algae), common in foetid water, &c., 
and always, we believe, extremely minute in size ; but it will be seen from 
our figure, which is enlarged 160 diameters, that the animals there shown 
are just over one one-hundredth of an inch long, whilst vibrios are ten 
times smaller, and do not arise from eggs, but increase by the formation of 
new joints and separation at the articulations. The parasite appears to us 
to belong rather to the oviparous section of the genus Anguillula, which 
includes the ‘ vinegar eel,’ and except that it is only about one-half the 
size, it is very similar in all stages of growth to A. Tritici, an eel found 
infesting blighted Wheat. It is often complained that men of science 
cannot specify cures for the diseases they describe, but it should always be 
remembered that in regard to cures pathological botanists considerably 
resemble doctors of medicine. It does not follow that, because a doctor 
can tell by certain symptoms his patient may have Asiatic cholera or 
cancer, that he can therefore cure the disease; or because a fireman sees 
your house is being destroyed by fire, he can from that mere fact extinguish 
the blaze. Physic and water sometimes do wonderful things, and in the 
case of worms in the roots of Cucumbers, the best remedy is to destroy the 
plants, thoroughly cleanse the house, and in planting again get soil and 
: manure from another source.” 
