524 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
April IS, 1899. 
THE FUNGOID PESTS OF OUR 
GARDENS.* 
These pests which we have to consider are known 
in natural history as parasites. Now a parasite is an 
organism which does not strive to provide for its 
own maintenance, but lives upon the hard earnings 
of another, and has its food supplied to it, as it were, 
ready made. Therefore, the whole life of a parasite 
is one of dependency upon another. It is not always 
the case that a parasite is the simplest form of life 
as regards its organic construction. There are a 
great many little organisms of plant life far more 
simple and far less complex which lead a life of in¬ 
dependency, which is the direct opposite to that of 
parasitism. 
There are instances recorded in natural history 
where plants and animals pay the penalty for their 
reversion to parasitism. I will give you two 
examples, and these are plants which stand higher 
in the scale of classification than the fungous pests 
which we are about to notice, and these are the 
Mistleto and the Dodder. Now the Mistleto is a 
true parasite, and starts life from its very com¬ 
mencement with that object in view (but remember 
this is not a pest). 
Look at the berries which contain the seed. The 
sticky substance with which they are surrounded 
enables them to attach themselves to some neighbour¬ 
ing tree, and there they germinate and live a depen¬ 
dent life, constantly suck ing the sap of their hosts. 
The other pauper that I will mention is the Dodder 
plant. Here we have rather a different state of 
affairs at the beginning. This plant starts life inde¬ 
pendently. Yes, and gives every promise in its first 
stages of life that it will carry on its own struggle for 
existence. It germinates and goes on growing like 
any other independent plant, carrying out all the 
necessary conditions which a life of independency 
involves. But visit it again in a later stage of life, 
and what has happened in this little time ? It has 
commenced to throw about its branches in search of 
a neighbour, someone that will help it to bear the 
burdens of life, and to this it clings for succour, and 
from this stage it commences a life of parasitism, and 
continues it throughout its individual existence. So 
it goes on, each generation repeats the process, and 
allows the law of parasitism to evade the law of 
evolution. Now what is Nature’s punishment ? As 
soon as the Dodder plant ceases to carry on the 
necessary conditions for its own existence, and 
attaches itself to a host, away go roots and leaves, 
and it remains a mere wreck to the end. 
Now—I should like to divide vegetable parasites 
into two classes. The Dodder and the Mistleto re¬ 
present one class, and the parasitical fungi the other. 
It must be obvious to all that these two divisions 
exist entirely for two different objects. 
In the first division these plants exist and grow 
entirely according to the health and happiness of their 
host, and they go on tolerably well together, living a 
life almost of unity and agreement, so that death to 
the host would be death to the other. 
In the second division we have the opposite of this, 
and here I will say that parasitical fungi as far as I 
understand them seem to live entirely for the des¬ 
truction of their host, and hence the reasonableness of 
their name when called " pests." When this is 
allowed to get the upper hand, and .establish itself 
thoroughly upon a host, the plant will soon com¬ 
mence to show signs of ill health. Then it is that the 
pest seems to revel in its position, and it will go on 
and grow upon the remains of its victim as long as a 
particle of sap remains. Then, again, there are 
some better members belonging to this family of 
fungi, which are not a pest, but a pleasure. I mean 
those which are classed as saprophytic fungi. 
Do not think that the whole of the minute fungus 
family are a curse to man. No ! in this division of 
saprophytes we have one of Nature's greatest pro¬ 
visions for the welfare and the happiness of man¬ 
kind. It hardly seems creditable that those minute 
beings could exercise such a beneficial influence for 
our well-being. 
Why ! if it was not for saprophytic fungi the smells 
that would arise from both animal and vegetable 
matter, which is constantly decaying around us, 
would make the air almost unbearable. 
I believe the word saprophyte is taken from Greek 
which means a plant that flourishes on rotten 
* A paper read before the members of the Devon and 
Exeter Gardeners' Association by Mr. R. W. Hodder, gardener 
to Mrs. Trevor Barclay, Ponsonby, Torquay. 
remains ; and these are unable to damage living 
plants. Now, before we go on to notice the different 
species of fungi which attack different plants, per¬ 
haps it might be well for us that we should look for 
a moment at the spores of these fungi, their manner 
of germination and fertilisation. Of course, in all 
the higher orders of flowering plants fertilisation 
takes place when a plant is at the zenith of its 
growth, that is, when it is in flower before the seed 
commences to ripen ; but in the case of non-flowering 
plants a different state of things exists. 
When the spores are ripe, they fall away from the 
plant and are scattered hither and thither by every 
wind ; and if perchance they alight on a favourable 
spot, in most cases germination soon commences. 
Now the Fern serves as a very good example to 
illustrate naturally the germination and fertilisation 
of non-flowering plants. With the Fern a little 
flattened growth is developed, known as the 
prothallus, and upon this the organs of reproduction 
are borne, equal, of course, to stamens and pistil in 
flowering plants. Now as scon as the little female 
organ becomes impregnated the growth of the 
future plant commences from this spot. So in the 
case of the fungi, much the same kind of thing 
happens with a little difference in the form of growth. 
This develops a little rounded body, and from it 
springs a slender tube which penetrates through to 
the germinal vesicle, and thus another generation of 
fungus commences. Then, again, they tell us that 
all the higher members of the fungoid family bear 
two kinds of spores. One set is called the quick 
germinating spore, the other the resting spore, or in 
other words, the summer spore and the winter or 
resting spore. 
This manner of reproduction, of course, very 
much resembles that of green fly, where they lay 
young ones for summer supply, but eggs for winter 
to start the progeny again with the spring ; thus the 
process of reproduction is kept up. Then again we 
must notice a great dissimilarity which exists 
between some kinds of fungi and the mildew in their 
habit of growth. With the first type we have a 
rapid spreading mycelium constantly growing, creep¬ 
ing, and entwining itself between the cells of the 
leaf, with the hyphae ready to spring through the 
epidermis of the leaf as soon as a favourable oppor¬ 
tunity presents itself; just in the same way as a bud 
is ready to spring from a subterranean stem of the 
Convolvulus or other plants of like nature, when the 
warmth returns. 
Therefore, it is here that the difficulty of destroy¬ 
ing such a fungoid pest comes in. You can recognise 
at a glance the difficulty of destroying these hidden 
buds ; therefore, it is obvious that in dealing with 
such fungi we must deal with them in the same way 
as we do with the Convolvulus, which, if possible, 
we should never allow to have a green leaf above 
ground ; and so with the fungus, we should never 
let it push its little spore-bearing branches into the 
air for the purpose of reproduction. Now with the 
mildew we have a parasite very different in its 
habit of growth to that of the hypodermal fungi. 
The mildew is an external parasite which attaches 
itself to the under part of the leaf, and the manner 
in which it gets its nourishment is by the develop¬ 
ment of little tube-like projections, which penetrate 
the cuticle of the leaf, and there suck the juices of 
the host. It thus draws the whole of its support 
from the tissues of the leaf. Therefore, the moment 
an effectual remedy is applied, the mildew is cleared 
away, and you have no cause to fear that a creeping 
mycelium will again push forth another set of spore¬ 
bearing hyphae. So without another visitation of 
mildew spores there is do fear of a second scourge to 
settle with. So you see this mildew pest is Dot so 
much to be dreaded as many other fungoid pests. 
The first individual pest that I should like to men¬ 
tion is that known as Pythium baryanum, a little 
fungus which causes the damping of seedlings. 
With some species of plants this disease causes 
great havoc among its tender victims (take for in¬ 
stance mustard aDd cress as examples). 
This pest first makes its appearance near the soil, 
on the lower part of the stem ; the cause of this 
disease is that the seedlings are kept much too 
moist. The first symptom of this disease becomes 
apparent by the seedlings falling over, and you will 
know the consequences unless this is quickly 
stopped. When seedlings commence to go off in this 
way, all the little plantlets that seem at all affected 
should be removed at once, and the soil under them, 
upon which the mycelium is spreading. Endeavour 
thus to stop the spread of the disease. A drier 
atmosphere also should be maintained where it 
attacks plants under glass. 
Our next pest is the Onion mildew or Onion blight 
(Peronospora schleideniana), which often causes the 
gardener much anxiety when it makes its attacks in 
our Onion beds. It should be taken in hand im¬ 
mediately it makes its appearance, in fact, if the 
weather is at all favourable to mildew growth, 
means should be adopted to prevent it. 
The prevention and remedy are these:—Dust 
your plants over with soot in the morning, while the 
foliage is damp, and if the foliage should not be 
damp enough sprinkle it with a fine rose, so that the 
soot will adhere to the foliage. Some growers re¬ 
commend sulphide of potassium mixed into a paste 
with water, and applied to the parts affected. 
Then again, we have the Carnation disease, and 
here I shall allude only to the pest known as the spot. 
This trouble seems to be brought about by various 
means, a damp, heavy soil, or keeping the plants in a 
stagnant atmosphere. This is a pest that the West 
country growers are much subjected to, chiefly 
through the humidity of the atmosphere, but in the 
North, where the climate is far more braciDg, the 
spot seldom puts in its appearance. 
Now the best course to be adopted wherever this 
disease shows itself is to stand the plants in an airy, 
light position, keeping them well on the dry side, by 
giving no more water than is really necessary to pre¬ 
vent flagging. This fungus which constitutes the 
Carnation disease is known by the name of Uredo 
Dianthi. 
The best remedy that I have found for 'this pest, 
and with the least detriment to the grass of the 
Carnation, is as follows Dissolve 3 lbs. sulphate 
of copper in ij gallons of boiling water, stirring 
well until the copper is dissolved, then with this 
liquid slake half a bushel or as much lime as this 
liquid will take to bring it to a fine powder, and with 
this powder dust the foliage of the plants with an 
ordinary puff (as is used for tobacco powder). This 
may be allowed to remain upon the plants forty- 
eight hours, after which it should be syringed off. 
If the spots again show any signs of vitality the 
process may be repeated. Then there is another 
remedy, used and recommended by some, and that 
is sulphide of potassium, used at the rate of half an 
ounce to five gallons of water, and the plants 
sprayed with this solution. 
(To be continued.) 
-- 
FRENCH FLOWER TRADE. 
An industry which has of late years made pleasing 
progress in France is that of flowers. Formerly when 
winter arrived followed by a late spring people had 
to resign themselves—great source of regret for 
ladies and aesthetes—to bid a long farewell to flowers. 
Even in Paris one had to be contented with admiring 
some rare, expensive specimens from conservatories 
through the well-warmed windows of the florist's 
shop, 
At the present day this joy for the eye has been 
popularised with wonderful “ maestria” ; the rooms 
of the rich are adorned with a profusion of flowers, 
inundated with fragrance; so also are those of the 
poorer class, though be-decked more scantily, equally 
charming to view. Every day the little carts of the 
itinerant flower sellers supply the Parisians not only 
with products from the cultures in the neighbour¬ 
hood of the city,but also with waggon loads of plants 
and flowers, which follow each other unceasingly, 
whatever the time of year, from the south of France, 
thus placing within reach of every purse the floral 
wealth of the azure coast. This is a real luxury of 
Nature, a source of great delight to lovers of the 
beautiful. Here and there one stops enchanted near 
one of these little carts to gaze admiringly at the 
wonderful bouquet which will presently be scattered 
about carrying on all sides the poetry of its brightly 
coloured petals. 
TJie chemists, useful members of society, but 
unutterably prosaic, are compelled to bow down 
before these masterpieces of nature. They, however, 
redeem themselves by complaining of the insuffic¬ 
iency of fragrance in the flowers ; but this opinion 
is not general. However, as we are aware, according 
to the old proverb, that " de colotibus et gustibus nonest 
disputandum " the following is a method which can in 
certain cases be applied for " artificial odorisationof 
flowers " 
