49 
GENERAL NOTES. 
• 
A number of circulars were sent out to prominent florists asking as 
to their experience with the disease. Our answers revealed the fol¬ 
lowing facts: (1) Comparatively few florists have ever had any experi¬ 
ence with the fungus, but wherever it has made its appearance it has 
been exceedingly destructive, the losses varying from 25 per cent, to 
the entire crop. (2) No one who grows hollyhocks entirely out of doors 
reported the disease, but some of those who reported it ou seedlings 
raised in the greenhouse said it also attacked plants which were raised 
out of doors and had never been in the house. At Henderson’s green¬ 
houses it disappeared at first after the plants were bedded, but last 
year, owing probably to the wet season, the disease reappeared very 
violently after the plants were in bud and nearly ready to blossom, kill¬ 
ing them root and all. Another correspondent reported that it at¬ 
tacked and killed his plants that were raised entirely out of doors. 
(3) Putting diseased plants out of doors may check the disease in some 
cases, but this is very uncertain. (4) Heat and moisture are very bad 
for the plants; as little as possible of each should be given. 
Three dozen perfectly healthy plants growing out of doors iu a cold 
frame were picked out from some Bay Ridge, L. I., nurseries and sent 
to Washington for experiments with infection. They were not care¬ 
fully taken up and consequently experiments were delayed until they 
should recover from the set-back in growth they had received. Half of 
the plants were potted and put in one of the Department greenhouses 
while the other half were planted out of doors. Instead of recovering, 
and before any attempts at infection were made, the plants in the green¬ 
house were attacked with the fungus and were dead in two weeks. 
Those out of doors also became diseased, but not so badly and lingered 
along for some time. These plants had never been iu a greenhouse; 
they were sowed out of doors the fall before, and had lived through the 
winter in a cold frame. They did not become diseased from contact 
with other diseased plants, for except the fungus which was produced 
on the seedlings already mentioned, there was none in the Department 
grounds, and these plants were kept in another house at some distance 
from the first. This would look as if the fungus could more readily 
attack plants whose vitality is in some way decreased, and is a hint to 
hollyhock growers as to the manner of transplanting. 
Raising plants indoors is almost necessary if the demand for bedding 
plants is to be met in the spring, and consequently those who wish to 
raise them for the spring trade must either have some remedy for the 
disease or give up the business. For the purpose of ascertaining 
whether fungicides which have been of value in other diseases would 
also answer in this, the following experiment was made in Henderson’s 
greenhouse. Three hundred plants which had been taken out of the 
greenhouse and put out of doors w r ere brought in and repotted without 
disturbing the roots. All the diseased leaves were lacked off; they were 
then arranged in three lots of 100 each and placed far enough apart so 
