144 REPORT OF THE DEPARTMENT OF BOTANY OF THE 
or less trouble with carnation bud-rot, but only one sent specimens 
of the Sporotrichum disease. These came from a greenhouse in 
the middle Hudson Valley. The diseased buds showed the same 
Sporotrichum and mites as those previously examined. The owner 
stated that the disease was not destructive. 
The disease is known to occur also in Nebraska and Illinois. Dr. 
F. D. Heald, Botanist of the Nebraska Station, sent us specimens 
from Nebraska showing both Sporotrichum and mites. More will 
be said about these specimens later. In Illinois it is prevalent in 
greenhouses about Chicago and Bloomington. For our knowledge 
of the disease in Illinois we are indebted to Mr. J. J. Davis, Field 
Entomologist for Northern Illinois. Mr. Davis discovered the 
carnation bud-rot in October, 1907, and at once began a study of it. 
Later, finding that the writers had the subject under investigation, 
Mr. Davis kindly sent us his notes for use in this bulletin. They 
are as follows: 
“J first found rotting carnation buds containing mites on October 
24, 1907, in greenhouses at Chicago. Mr. A. C. Beal has since 
found this same injury in houses in Bloomington. No other carna- 
tion houses in Illinois (excepting two at Centralia, referred to later) 
have been inspected, but as these two localities are widely separated 
it is quite probable that it is generally distributed over the State. It 
was quite general in the houses at Chicago and sufficiently abundant 
in some houses to cause alarm among growers. 
“The rot was most abundant during the latter part of October 
when I first observed it. In the house which was worst infested 
the rotted buds were picked at that time. This house was again 
visited in December and very few decayed buds were found. In 
other houses, only occasional rotted buds were found on this latter 
date, where they had been rather common a month before. Here, 
likewise, the diseased buds had been picked since the first observa- 
tion. Upon a third observation made January 21, 1908, not a sing!e> 
infested bud could be found. 
“The white varieties such as Lawson and Perfection seemed 
to be the worst attacked. The pink and light red varieties were 
only slightly affected, while among the dark red varieties I found 
no rotting buds. 
“From my observations it seems evident that the mite is the 
direct cause of the fungus attack, for in all cases the rotting begins 
in the center of the bud and were it a fact that the spores are dis- 
seminated by wind or water we should expect to find the rot begin- 
