Fungi, Bacteria und Pathologie. 617 



all sizes. The disease first appears as a brownish stain in the vascular 

 System of the tuber, and generally at the basal end. This color turns to 

 a decided blackening and increases in extent as the disease progresses. 

 The tubers show little external sign of the disease until after the entire 

 vascular System is affected. Finally the flesh takes a yellowish color in 

 the vicinity of the affected vascular portions. This discoloration may 

 continue until the whole tuber is involved. Mycelium was always present 

 in the blackened tissues but did not seem to have yet extended into the 

 yellow ones. In the last stages of the disease the tubers become 

 shrunken, and if no secondary rots set in, they dry until the tuber is 

 nearly as hard as wood, and is very light in weight. The flesh still re- 

 mains black. The hyphae easily penetrate the cell walls absorbing the 

 cell Contents with the exception of the starch, which is but little affected. 

 A very complete account of the fungus and its behavior on different 

 media is given. The disease is found in the United States in a section bounded 

 on the north by Ca na da, on the east by the Atlantic, south by the 

 Gulf of Mexico and west by Co 1 or ad o. Not the least important part 

 is that dealing with the synonomy of the fungus. The authors 

 say „judged by the above descriptions, we have had a half dozen or 

 more species of Fusarium in our culture tubes, some of them „new 

 species" and yet all were the product of a single spore". The authors 

 give a list of the various names which have been given to the Fusaria 

 growing on the potato and have considered them as Synonyms, taking the 

 oldest, Fusarium oxysporum Schlechtendal, as the name for the fungus. 

 The fungus grows readily in a great variety of media, varying conside- 

 rably in form, color, and sporification according to the environment. 

 The fungus tolerates large amounts of some acids; malic, citric, and tar- 

 taric, and is inhibited by small amounts of others; formic, acetic, and bu- 

 tyric. It endures considerable amounts of alkalies. It is aerobic, does 

 not grow at 37.5 C. and grows very slowly at 5 C. It grows well between 

 15 and 30 C. Fertilizers did not seem to have much affect on the trouble. 

 Remedial measures are given as follows ; störe tubers in as cool a place 

 as possible, do not feed raw to stock, use infected land for other crops, 

 careiul inspection of seed to exclude all affected tubers, and diseased 

 tubers should not be thrown on the manure pile. Eight excellent plates 

 illustrate the paper. Perley Spaulding. 



Smith, J. Q., The pine apple disease of sugar cane. 

 (Hawaii Agric. Expt. Station Press. Bull. IX. p. 1—3. 1903.) 



A serious disease of sugar cane caused by the fungus Thielaviopsis 

 ethaceticus Went, is reported from Hawaii an plantations. The fungus 

 is a true parasite which gains entrance to the tissues of the cane through 

 injuries such as are very often made by leaf-hoppers and cane-borers. 



The cane is stunted, there is a decrease in the thickness and length 

 of the joints, the leaves die, and finally the whole plant is killed. The 

 fungus forms acetic acid from the sugary substances in the tissues and 

 this gives rise to the „pineapple" odor of freshly cut stalks, to which the 

 disease owes its name. Selection of seed cane and the burning of dis- 

 eased material is recommended. Perley Spaulding. 



Stevens, F. L. and W. G. Sackett, The Granville tobacco 



wilt; a preliminary bulletin. (N. Carolina Agric. 



Expt. Station. Bull. CLXXXVIII. 1903. p. 81—96.) 



A very serious local disease of tobacco has been known for about 

 two years in Granville County, North Carolina. The leaves 

 droop, become soft and flabby without loosing their green color, and 

 the stem when sectioned shows a yellowish discoloration of the woody 

 parts. In the more advanced stages the woody parts are found to be 

 more or less extensively marked with longitudinal black streaks. Still 

 later the wood and bark at the base of the plant are blackened nearly 



