114 Rerort oF THE BoOTANIST OF THD 
ON THE RADISH. 
(Raphanus sativus.) 
In the winter of 1898 diseased radish plants of marketable size 
were received from Saratoga, N. Y. The disease consisted of a 
soft rot of the crown, or of large ulcerations in this region. AS. 
a rule, the leaves were unaffected until a considerable portion of 
the root had decayed. It was reported, however, that plants in 
all stages of growth were affected and killed. It proved to bea 
trouble of considerabie importance with forced radishes, and 
nearly half of the crop was lost from this disease. It spread 
rapidly from plant to plant in the row, and from well-established 
centers of infection. When the material was received, the tis- 
sues surrounding diseased areas were infested with hyphe of a 
Rhizoctonia. These hyphe were also very abundant superficially, 
growth being induced, perhaps, by the moist conditions under 
which the plants had been kept. A culture of the fungus was 
secured, and with half-grown radishes kept under moist condi- 
tions the disease was induced; but only a few plants were involved 
in this experiment. Unfortunately, this culture was afterwards 
lost, and it has not since been observed as a disease of mature 
plants. Nevertheless, Rhizoctonia has been found occasionally in 
the greenhouse as a radish damping-off fungus of slight import- 
ance. 
ON THH RHUBARB. 
(Rheum rhaponticum.) 
For several years a peculiar disease of rhubarb has been 
observed on Long Island; but until the past season no satisfac- 
tory cause of the trouble was evident. During July several 
rhubarb fields were visited in the vicinity of Jamaica, and in 
many of these the leaves were dying rapidly, the plants being 
in an unthrifty condition. There was little or no injury due to 
the leaf-spot fungus Phyllosticta rhei, and the trouble was evi- 
dently of other origin. Affected leaves became dried and 
shrunken in appearance, and soon fell to the ground. Where a 
field was badly affected, the majority of hills would show the 
