This volume of nearly 300 pages is especially rich in fertilizer tests and analyses. The part which particularly concerns the horticulturist is the report of Roland Thaxter, the mycologist. Dr. Thaxter has made a particular study of the diseases of onions, and has reported upon them here at considerable length. The worst onion disease in Connecticut is the smut (Urocystis Cepulae). "The presence of smut in onions is first indicated by one or several dark spots at different heights in the leaves of seedlings, which are seen to be more or less opaque when the plant is held up to the light. These dark appearances may be seen in the first leaf, before the second leaf has begun to develop at all, and are more commonly found just below the 'knee;' though they sometimes occur above it. After a time, usually while the second leaf is developing, longitudinal cracks begin to appear on one side of these spots, which widen and show within a dry, fibrous mass, covered with a black, sooty powder made up wholly of the ripened fruit or spores of the fungus, which are blown or washed out onto the ground. In some cases the smut may appear only toward the upper end of the first leaf, and become cut off from the main body of the plant by the withering of the former.

In such a case an onion which has shown smut in its first leaf appears, in some instan-ces, to recover, showing no signs of smut in its subsequent growth ; but as a rule the same dark appearance shows itself in the second leaf and those subsequently formed, and if the seedling is pulled up and examined, the whole plant will be found to be pervaded by the disease to a greater or less extent. Plants thus diseased, especially if the soil is dry, very commonly succumb early, dying while in the second or third leaf. The stronger plants, however, especially if the ground is moist, are able to resist the smut sufficiently to make a considerable growth, and may survive even up to the time of harvesting".

Potato Scab.

Onion Smut.

Several substances were drilled into the ground with the seed to destroy the fungus, such as sulphate of iron, a patent "germinator," sulphide of sodium, hyposulphite of sodium, sulphate of copper and sulphur mixed with lime. The sulphur and lime mixture proved to be the best remedy, all things considered, and it was a decided benefit to the plants treated with it. Equal weights of sulphur and lime were mixed, and 5 grammes (about 3½ pwt.) of the mixture was sown in the drill in 10 feet of row. Some excellent plates are given, representing the experimental plots, and of the structure and natural history of the fungus.

The onion mildew (Peronospora Schleideni), known also locally but erroneously as "white blast," has seriously damaged fields of seed onions in Connecticut.

"An examination of the affected stalks showed that the trouble originated as a small yellowish discolored patch, usually on one side, from which the disease spread in all directions so as often to involve the whole stalk. The only visible appearance upon the the surface was an obscure, mould-like coating, white near the edges of the diseased spot, and slightly reddish near the center. This appearance of mildew was also noticeable on such leaves as had not been already entirely killed by it, and was very commonly followed by a velvety black coating, sometimes covering the stalks almost entirely and forming a conspicuous feature in the diseased fields. This black appearance is due to a fungus (Macrosporium) wholly unconnected with the mildew".

This disease is well known in Europe, and it is exceedingly destructive in Bermuda. It attacks the market onions as well as the seed crop. All infested onions and leaves should be burned in the fall, and the plantation should be removed to a fresh field. It is probable that some of the sulphur fungicides, applied early in the season, will be beneficial.

Other diseases of the onion are discussed, particularly two macrosporiums and a vermicularia.

A new species of mildew (named Phytophihora Phascoli by Dr. Thaxter) has seriously attacked lima beans in Connecticut. This is an interesting discovery from a scientific as well as from a practical point of view, as there are only two other species of phytophthora known, one being the potato blight. This lima bean mildew "first shows itself as a spot, having a white, woolly appearance, usually on one side of the unripe pods. The spot extends rapidly during damp weather, penetrating and appearing on both tides of the pod, which it often covers completely with a clear, white, thick, woolly coating. At the same time the pod begins to decay, and usually ends by becoming shrivelled and black." Dr. Thaxter has not yet tried fungicides upon this mildew, and he can only recommend that the diseased pods be picked and burned, and especially that all diseased plants be burned in the fall.

Onion Mildew.

Lima Bean Mildew.

Bordeaux mixture (6 lbs. sulphate copper, 6 lbs. lime, 22 gals, water) applied to grapes six times (May 17, June 7, 13, 28, July 16, Aug. 3), proved effective against the rot, although the season (1889) was an unusually unfavorable one for the use of fungicides. "When the grapes were picked, Sept. 23, the untreated rows had proved a total failure, not maturing a single cluster, while the treated rows yielded from 60 to 75 per cent, in good condition".

The same Bordeaux mixture was applied three times (May 22, June 14 and July 16) to plum trees which "always set an abundance of fruit which was wholly destroyed by the fruit-rot, and in addition to this disease, were subject to black-knot and to defoliation by the plum leaf fungus." The "treated trees held their foliage intact up to severe frost in October, showed hardly any black-knot, and matured a fair amount of fruit; while the untreated tree was defoliated in August, matured no fruit, and was badly infested with the black-knot." The mixture does not adhere well to the plums, hence the fruit-rot was not controlled so completely as the other diseases.

Bordeaux mixture (10 lbs. sulphate copper, 10 lbs. lime, 30 gals, water) was applied three times (July 18, 25 and Aug. 3) to potatoes which were badly attacked by blight. The weather was exceedingly unfavorable for the experiment, but the treated vines showed unmistakable evidence of the value of the fungicide for this disease.

Dr. Thaxter gives short notes upon a number of fungous diseases of fruits and garden plants.