NUTRIENT mp:dia. 25 



in the cuciimbors that wore inoculated. In tliree days from the time 

 of inocuhition the ciicumhers were .soft ul)out one-half tluMr len*^th, 

 and in rive days they were soft throut^hoiit. The skin, however, 

 remained intact, so that the inoculated cucumljers represented closed 

 sacks containintr a watery, pulpy mass (PI. VI). If an opening were 

 made in the sack the contents would tiow out, leaving a semitranspar- 

 ent hag which could be tilled with water and handled. All controls 

 remained entirely unatiectcd. A diop of the watery substance from 

 one of the inoculated cucumbeis placed under a low power of the 

 micr()scoi)e showed that the cells had become se})aiated so that each 

 individual cell rioated out In' itself. The cells themselves wei-e not 

 collapsed, however, showing that the action of the organism had been 

 upon the lamella connectmg the cells, causing them to dissolve. This 

 action was apparent not only upon the cucumber but upon all the raw 

 vegetal)les which were rotted under the intiuence of this organism. 

 The color of the cucumbers, both upon the surface and in the interior, 

 remained unchanged. The odor of the soft contents of the inoculated 

 cucum})ers was strikingly like that arising from cucumbers that some- 

 times soften when pickled in brine. The reaction was distinctly acid 

 to litmus. 



To determine whether the organism that had caused the softening 

 of thelnocidated cucumbers was the calla-rot germ, a spot was steril- 

 ized on the surface of one of the soft cucumbers l)efore the skin was 

 broken. With a sterile needle a puncture was then made in the ster- 

 ilized spot in the skin and a loop of the soft interior was removed 

 with a sterile needle and placed in 10 c. c. of beef l)roth. In the 

 usual wa}^ eight poured plates of beef agar were at once prepared 

 from the dilutions of this beef-broth culture. In from twent3'-four to 

 forty-eight hours at 20^ to 25^ C. colonies appeared in all the plates. 

 These colonies were all radiating and were alike in all respects, indi- 

 cating that the cucumber contained a pure culture of an organism 

 similar at least to the calla-rot germ. Twelve callas were inoculated 

 with 24-hour-old beef-broth cultures made from these colonies, and in 

 twent3'-four hours the characteristic calla rot appeared in all cases, 

 as indicated in the watery discoloration around the inoculated spots 

 and by the subsequent decaying of the parts inoculated. In twenty- 

 four hours more the inoculated leaves had entirely rotted oft. The 

 only part of the interior of the inoculated cucumbers not softened was 

 the portion immediately beneath the spot sterilized for inoculation 

 (PI. VI, A). Here the interior remained firm, sometimes to a depth 

 of one-half inch or more, showing that the corrosive sublimate had 

 penetrated to a considerable depth and that the organism was unable 

 to attack this part of the cin3umber even after several days. 



This series of experiments was repeated many times with practi- 

 cally the same results. Snmetinios the action was a little slower and 



