New York AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 115 
trouble to the extent of at least a leaf or two. In several in- 
stances, apparently from one-fourth to three-fourths of the 
leaves were already dead. Fields thus affected showed notice- 
able injury even from a considerable distance. 
Close by an affected field, or sometimes even contiguous to it, 
might be found a field showing the trouble only to a very slight 
degree. This may have been due to a longer culture of the 
rhubarb upon one than upon the other area. 
An affected leaf breaks off readily just beneath the surface of 
the ground, and it was found that dead or prostrate leaves had 
rotted off in this region. The general appearance reminded one 
strongly of the effect of Rhizoctonia upon beets. There was very 
little superficial mycelium visible to the unaided eye. Micro- 
scopic examination showed hyphe of a Rhizoctonia both super- 
ficially, and also immediately under the surface where the leaves 
were rotting. No other fungus was at any time found abun- 
dantly associated with the disease, and the Rhizoctonia was quite 
constantly present. | 
ON ORNAMENTAL ASPARAGUS. 
(Asparagus sprengeri.) 
In May, 1900, a florist on Long Island called our attention to 
dead patches in a large bench of Asparagus sprengeri in one of his 
greenhouses. The plants were dead and the leaves, which were 
eray and dry, had a tendency to cling to each other. Closer 
observation showed that the leaves were bound together with 
brown threads which provee to be Rhizoctonia hyphez. The dis- 
ease seemed to be unimportant, being confined to small areas 
where the foliage was kept unduly wet by the dripping of water 
from the glass above. The roots of the affected plants were not 
examined. Pure cultures of the fungus have been secured. 
Knowing that, in Europe, the garden asparagus, A. officinalis, 
is affected by a Rhizoctonia root-rot we visited Mattituck, Long 
Island, for the purpose of searching for the Riuzoctonia in the 
extensive asparagus fields of that locality. Owing to unfavor- 

1Rhizoctonia violacea Tul, 
