314 Wisconsin State Horticultural Society. 



the diseased plant. The differences in both cases are most re- 

 markable as far as potash and lime are concerned. The differ- 

 ence is more conspicuous in the branches than in the fruit. The 

 diseased objects contain less potash and more lime than the 

 healthy ones. 



The subsequent statement contains a summary of result ob- 

 tained by those investigations : 



1. Healthy wood shows comparatively little stored starch ; but fu ngous 

 growth is present in the outer layers of thii bark. 



2. Diseased wood shows an abnormally small development of the cells, 

 and the invariable presence of large quantities of starch; also an abundance 

 of fungous growth. 



3. Diseased leaves show the presence of fungous growth, discoloration, 

 and cells filled with starch. 



4. The fungus appears first on the surface of the trunk or branches, and 

 thence enters the woody structure when the conditions are favorable. 



5. There is little or no difi"erence between the tissues and cell contents be- 

 fore and after the leaves fall. 



6. While fungus is abundant on fully diseased trees, it is also to be found 

 cm trees which, onc^ diseased, had beeji restored to a condition of vigorous health. 



The previous statements seem to confirm some of the views en- 

 tertained by me ^vhen planning the investigation. The results 

 seem to point toward an interior disorder before the fungus enters 

 the living tissue. 



Whether some other internal or external influence, or both, in- 

 augurates the disease, whether the various forms of the disease 

 are merely a matter of degree, or whether they are of an entirely 

 different character, must, of course, be left to future investiga- 

 tion. I consider my results of a general interest rather on account 

 of what they suggest than of what they seem to me to prove. 



BACTEEIA. 



In an address delivered in 1878, before the Massachusetts State 

 Board of Agriculture, by Professor W. S. Farlow, of Massachu- 

 setts State Agricultural College, he says : " At the lowest limits 

 of the vegetable kingdom, some would say, below the lowest 

 limits, is a large group of very minute beings called ' Bacteria.' 

 They are very small ; they are found everywhere ; their study 

 texes the highest powers of the first scientific men. It will be a 



