Plant Diseases of 1901 . 
13 
The light pink spore masses of the fungus were very abundant on 
this area. It is likely that the disease was in the soil when the 
plants were set out and that it gained access to the plants through 
the crown or upper roots, as the root system was also badly diseased. 
The fungus grows within the tissues and absorbs the nourish¬ 
ment of the plant. Finally the communication between root and 
top becomes obstructed by the collapse of cells and the filling up of 
the passages by the fungus hypha. 
The only remedy that can be suggested for this disease, since 
the fungus lives in the ground, is to replace the soil in the beds with 
fresh earth. This would be practicable only with small beds. But 
it is possible that the soil can be freed of the fungus by taking 
certain sanitary precautions. Such measures would consist, first, in 
burning all diseased plants as soon as they are detected, thus pre¬ 
venting further dissemination of spores; second, asters should not be 
grown for two or three years in beds where the disease has appeared; 
the fungus will probably be starved out during this time. 
CURRANT CANE DISEASE. 
(.Nectria cinnabarina). 
Currant bushes in the vicinity of Fort Collins are seriously 
affected by a fungus which attacks the canes. It is especially severe 
on neglected bushes in back yards, but the College plantation, which 
has always been given good care, was so badly diseased that it was 
thought best to destroy it. The fungus was also found in an active 
condition on gooseberry bushes that stood in adjoining rows. 
Yellow foliage and dying canes are characteristics of this dis¬ 
ease, which often occur on a bush where a portion of the plant 
appears healthy. As is common with some other plant diseases, 
many of the canes die after the fruit becomes of considerable size 
and both fruit and foliage shrivel and cling to the stems. Badly 
diseased plants are frequently killed. The reproductive bodies of 
the fungus occur in great abundance on the dead canes in the form 
of brick-red masses or tubercles, which are shown natural size in 
Plate VI., Fig. 2. 
* Spraying with fungicides is not likely to prove practical as a 
preventive of this trouble, as spores may be produced at any time 
during the season. All that can be done is to remove the entire 
plant and burn it as soon as any part shows evidence of the disease. 
If allowed to lie on the ground the affected parts may mature spores 
and spread the disease toother plants. It has been determined that 
the fungus lives from year to year within the tissues of the currant 
plant, and that a plant may be infested for some time without show- 
*Durand, E. J. Cornell Univ. Agri. Expt. Sta. Bui. 125. 
