"F. J. K.," Ottawa, Ills., sends specimens of what is known here as the Black fungus or Black mildew. The leaves, especially the young ones with the tender shoots, turn black and die with a soft kind of rot. There is no known cure for it, because the injury proves fatal before its existence is discovered.

There is little doubt, however, that the plants that get the disease have been weakened in their vital powers before they get the fungus in its developed state, because some varieties suffer so much more than those with vigorous constitution growing under the same conditions. The only cure therefore lies in efforts to give these weak brethren the benefit of those general laws of health which those who have made plant life a study have explained to us.