539 — ‘Report or THE HorvicuLTurRIsT’ OF THE 
with 4,600 acres, or thirty-six per cent. of the whole, a greater — 
acreage than all the rest of the United States combined, cps 
Tiinois and Michigan. : 
In the acreage devoted to snap or string beans on truck-farms, — 
the “New York and Philadelphia” district stands second only to 
the “South Atlantic” district. The statistics of the acreage - 
devoted by market gardeners to snap beans are not at hand, but 
it is known that snap beans are with them an important crop. On — 
the whole it may be said that the bean crop of New York State is 
of sufficient importance to justify a study of bean diseases. 
It is readily seen that a loss of five per cent. of the crop means : 
a loss of more than five per cent. of the profits, and, whether the 
crop be small or large, an injury amounting to five per cent. of 
the yield is of sufficient importance to justify an inquiry as to its 

cause and remedy. Especially is this true when an injury results 
from a disease capable of propagating itself from year to year 
in the diseased seed, and one that under favorable conditions for 
its development may raise the loss from five per cent to fifty or 
seventy-five per cent., or perhaps entirely ruin the crop. 
Such a disease is the bean anthracnose, frequently but incor- 
rectly called bean rust. The latter name should be reserved 
for the true bean rust, which is quite a different, and, so far as 
the writer’s observation goes, much less troublesome disease of 
beans. Again, much of the loss popularly attributed to rust is 
really due to a bacterial disease which blights the foliage and 
causes watery spots on the green pods, followed frequently by 
decay. Sometimes it is even more destructive than the anthrac-  — 
nose. Frequently the anthracnose and this blight are present 
on the same plant and even on the same leaf or pod. 
It is well at the outset to have these distinctions clearly in ei 
mind, for the following discussion is devoted first to but one of 
these diseases, namely, the anthracnose, and afterwards the blight ~ 
and rust are given brief consideration. With the aid of the follow- 
ing descriptions of the way this disease affects the different parts 
of the plant, together with the accompanying ilustrations, it is” F. 
hoped that the careful reader will find no trouble in recognizing: aa ; 
bean anthracnose. 

