Manual of Plant Diseases

Abstract

THIS important book is the result of considerable experience in the teaching of plant pathology, which is now a recognised feature of agricultural and horticultural training. The arrangement and treatment of the subject matter follows that adopted by Dugger in his well-known “Fungous Diseases of Plants,” and has been used by the author in hi classes during the last ten years. The book is divided into four sections, the first containing two chapters dealing respectively with the history of pathology and the symptoms of disease; the latter especially should be read by all students of the subject. Section 2 deals with non-parasitic diseases, caused by some unfavourable influence in the plants environment. The effects of excess and deficiency of available nitrogen and potash in the soil are discussed at length, and examples are drawn from ‘sand drown’ of tobacco, ‘yellow berry’ of wheat, and ‘potash hunger’ of potatoes and tobacco. It is perhaps unfortunate that the important problem of ‘leaf scorch’ of orchard trees finds no place in the discussion, A considerable amount of useful information is given in other chapters setting out the effects of unfavourable air, light, temperature, and water conditions upon plant growth. ‘Bitter pit’ and ‘scald’ of apples are excellent examples of the treatment given to individual disorders.

Manual of Plant Diseases.

By Dr. F. Deforest Heald. (McGraw-Hill Publications in the Agricultural and Botanical Sciences.) Pp. xiii + 891. (New York: McGraw-Hill Book Co., Inc.; London: McGraw-Hill Publishing Co., Ltd., 1927.) 35s. net.