CULTIVATION OF SAFFRON IN FRANCE. 
41 
stroys the substance of the bulb. The second disease is a 
turnip-like excrescence (Rhizoctonia crocorum, Decand.) 
which appears mostly on the inferior part of the bulb, which 
it deprives of its nourishment. Both this, as well as the be- 
forementioned disease, is not common. The latter can be 
removed by picking the bulbs. 
The third is the most fatal malady. It is called the death 
( Tod.) It consists in the formation of a malignant, woolly, 
truffle-like fungus, composed of several separate balls of the 
size of a hazel-nut. These are partly close to the bulb, 
partly one to three inches distant from it ; but they never 
appear at the surface of the ground. From these balls, a 
large number of violet-coloured, fine, woolly fibres spread, 
partly from one ball to the other, partly surrounding the 
membrane of the bulb like a net. They penetrate between 
the membranes to the substance of the bulb, and then kill it. 
In Lower Austria the disease is called the Brand, or J2us- 
tand. One such diseased bulb is sufficient to infect a whole 
garden. The existence of the disease is known by bare 
circular spots in the saffron-garden; in the bulb itself black 
holes are perceived, as if dusted with soot ; sometimes they 
look as if burnt. Duhamel advises the spread of the disease 
to be checked by digging one foot deep around each infect- 
ed spot, and placing in heaps the earth of the infected spots. 
— Pharm. Journ. 
4* 
