106 REPORT OF THE BOTANIST OF THB 
the cracks and affected parts. A diseased beet sliced lengthwise 
and placed in a moist chamber yields in a day or two a luxuriant 
growth of the fungus. 
This disease has since been reported to us in the central and 
the western parts of the State, but specimens were not seen. 
During the past season it was found again, in the month of 
August, at Flint and at Phelps, N. Y.; but in neither case was 
there any serious outbreak of the disease. Specimens collected 
at the former place showed a considerable development of 
sclerotia, which bodies had not been previously observed upon 
the beet. Furthermore, Mr. A. D. Selby has kindly told us that 
he has found this disease of beets in Ohio during the past 
autumn. 
Inoculation experiments have been made in the field, and these 
all indicate beyond a doubt that this Rhizoctonia may readily 
produce beet root-rot when the conditions are favorable. Moist 
conditions are essential for the spread of the disease from plant 
to plant. Moreoyer, this fungus taken directly from diseased 
beets has the power of damping off lettuce and also beet seed- 
lings. 
A. beet disease due to a species of Rhizoctonia has been known 
to botanists in Europe since 1855 ; and we are indebted to Pro- 
fessor Karl von Tubeuf, of Berlin, for material of that fungus. 
It is improbable that the American form is identical with the 
European. However, the disease found by Pammel! in Iowa 
may be the same as the one which we find in New York. 
ON THE CABBAGE AND CAULIFLOWER. 
(Brassica oleracea.) 
Specimens of diseased cabbage seedings were received from 
Cairo, Ill., early in 1898. Among growers this disease is improp- 
erly called black rot. Sometimes the disease affects very young 
seedlings, and they are damped off by it, but it is more common 
after the plantlets have developed one or two true leaves. In 

*Pammel, L. H. Loc. cit. 
