70 SCIENTIFIC REPORTS OF THE AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH 



Corchori, and the same proportion of diseased plants 

 was observed on counting only stems which were 1 

 inch or more in thickness at the ground level. In any jute 

 crop, however, there is a considerable number of plants 

 which are the result of late germination and in which the 

 stems remain thin and relatively short. Among stems of 

 this size the disease was practically non-existent, and if 

 such plants are included in the estimation the proportion of 

 diseased stems may be as low as 3 per cent. The proportion 

 of diseased stems among the larger plants, however, gives a 

 more accurate measure of the extent of damage to the crop. 



In Eastern Bengal, in August and September, 1918, the 

 fungus was found present in Dacca, Mymensingh, Sin- 

 jhani and Haldibari. The number of diseased stems was 

 very small, however, and unless the disease appears earlier 

 it is evidently not likely to be a serious source of damage to 

 the fibre crop. An interesting fact observed was that, in 

 Dacca, red-stemmed varieties of Corchorus capsularis 

 seemed to be less susceptible to attack than green-stemmed. 

 On the Kajshahi Farm the crop was C. olitorius, both red 

 and green-stemmed varieties, and in this crop also the di- 

 sease was practically absent. Inoculations now in progress 

 do not, however, support the idea that red-stemmed forms 

 are absolutely immune. A number of artificial infections 

 on the variety " kakya bombai ' were carried out in the 

 field, and of inoculations upon wounded stems 90 per cent, 

 proved fatal and upon uninjured stems 50-60 per cent, 

 resulted in the death of the plant. The success or failure 

 of an infection upon an uninjured stem is probably very 

 closely related to the conditions of temperature and 

 humidity at the time and an endeavour will be made to» 

 elucidate the relative importance of these factors in the^ 

 success of a,n inoculation. Microscopic examination 

 shows that the hyphse are capable of penetrating the 

 epidermis directly and set up a rapid rot and disintegra- 

 tion in the cortex. This suggests the presence of a cytoly- 

 tic enzyme, and indeed the fungus has been cultivated suc- 

 cessfully on pure cellulose in a solution of inorganic salts. 



