PLANT DISEASES 
OF 1901. 
By WENDELL PADDOCK. 
INTRODUCTION. 
A brief account is given in the following pages of some of the 
plant diseases which have come to our attention during the past 
season. Only a few of these were brought to our notice by corre¬ 
spondents, and it is the purpose of this bulletin to stimulate a 
greater interest in the subject, for it is reasonable to suppose that 
these pests of our crops will increase in Colorado as they have done in 
older States. By prompt attention many of them may be overcome 
or controlled. In a State so large as ours it is impossible for one 
or two men, w 7 ith the time at our disposal, to visit very many differ¬ 
ent localities. It is, therefore, desirable in the interest of all that 
any untoward condition of crops, be it due either to insects or fungi, 
should be reported to the Experiment Station. Specimens of the 
affected plants should in all cases accompany the report. 
Now a word as to the nature of plant diseases. This term is 
commonly applied to a class of plants known as fungi, and some¬ 
times to the result of unfavorable soil or atmospheric condi¬ 
tions, but rarely to insect attacks. The following pages have 
to do mostly with fungi. These plants are low in the scale 
of ’development and are mostly of microscopic size, though 
some of them, as toad stools and puff balls, are familiar 
objects. Plants of this class are unable to take nourishment 
from the soil, consequently they must live on food that has been 
prepared by other plants. Man) 7 of them live on decaying vegetable 
matter, but others are true parasites, attacking live plants and thus 
becoming of economic importance. These tiny plants have organs 
that correspond to the roots, branches and seeds of higher plants. 
The seed-like organs or spores, go through a process of germi¬ 
nation much the same as a grain of corn. Being so small they are 
readily borne about by the wind and when they chance to fall on 
the kind of plant to which the fungus is adapted—its host plant— 
and the conditions are favorable for germination, the fungus readily 
gains a foothold. 
