_Asteroma Rosae_. Still more disastrous is a species of _Erysiphei_,
which at first appears like a dense white mould. This is named
_Sphaerotheca pannosa_. Nor is this all, for _Peronospora sparsa_, when
it attacks roses in conservatories, is merciless in its exactions.[l]
Sometimes violets will be distorted and spoiled by _Urocystis Violae_.
The garden anemone is freely attacked by _AEcidium quadrifidum_.
Orchids are liable to spot from fungi on the leaves, and recently the
whole of the choicest hollyhocks have been threatened with destruction
by a merciless foe in _Puccinia malvacearum_. This fungus was first
made known to the world as an inhabitant of South America many years
ago. It seems next to have come into notoriety in the Australian
colonies. Then two or three years ago we hear of it for the first time
on the continent of Europe, and last year for the first time in any
threatening form in our own islands. During the present year its
ravages are spreading, until all admirers of hollyhocks begin to feel
alarm lest it should entirely exterminate the hollyhock from
cultivation. It is common on wild mallows, and cotton cultivators must
be on the alert, for there is a probability that other malvaceous
plants may suffer.

A writer in the "Gardener's Chronicle" has proposed a remedy for the
hollyhock disease, which he hopes will prove effectual. He says, "This
terrible disease has now, for twelve months, threatened the complete
annihilation of the glorious family of hollyhock, and to baffle all
the antidotes that the ingenuity of man could suggest, so rapidly does
it spread and accomplish its deadly work. Of this I have had very sad
evidence, as last year at this time I had charge of, if not the
largest, one of the largest and finest collections of hollyhocks
anywhere in cultivation, which had been under my special care for
eleven years, and up to within a month of my resigning that position I
had observed nothing uncommon amongst them; but before taking my final
leave of them I had to witness the melancholy spectacle of bed after
bed being smitten down, and amongst them many splendid seedlings,
which had cost me years of patience and anxiety to produce. And
again, upon taking a share and the management of this business,
another infected collection fell to my lot, so that I have been doing
earnest battle with this disease since its first appearance amongst
us, and I must confess that, up to a very short time back, I h