Abstract
D. E. GREEN has seized the opportunity of wartime need to survey those plant diseases which are transmitted or aggravated by lack of hygiene in the garden (J.ftoy. Hort. Soc, 66, Parts 1.5, Jan.-May, 1941). This series of papers focuses attention upon the simplest and most economical methods of combating plant maladies, namely, by removing sources of infection and contributory causes. Incomplete removal of diseased material from previously infected crops, the presence of uncontrolled rubbish heaps, the use of contaminated soil for composts, sowing disease-bearing seed, unskilful’ watering, unbalanced manuring, and even undue handling of the plants by the gardener are all potent factors in the relative incidence of parasitic fungi. The list of diseases which are subject to hygienic control is an impressive one, and includes club root, several root-rots, footrots and damping-off, many virus diseases, leaf spots and rusts; in fact, all diseases should in some measure be subject to this form of control. Mr. Green describes numerous maladies with the help of excellent photographs, and it is difficult to escape the conclusion that phytopathologists and gardeners should direct far more attention to this efficient but unspectacular method of raising healthy plants.
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Hygiene of the Garden. Nature 147, 742 (1941). https://doi.org/10.1038/147742a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/147742a0