218 Agkicultubal Expekimknt Statiok, Ithaca, K.Y. 



October. From this stock, tlie trouble again spread and in six 

 or eight weeks it had become serious and there was no longer any 

 doubt that we were contending with a specific disease. 



Thia blight attacks the leaves. The first indication of the 

 trouble is a dwai-fing and slight fading of the leaves, and the 

 appearance of more or less ill-defined yellowish spots or splashes. 

 These spots soon become dark or almost black, and the leaf curls 

 and becomes stiff, the edges drawing downward and giving the 

 plant a wilted appearance. This condition of the leaf is well 

 shown in Fig. 1. The spots grow larger, until they often become ai: 

 eighth of an inch across, or even more, and they are finally more 

 or less translucent. This injury to the foliage causes the plant 

 to dwindle, and the stems become small and hard. Fruit pro- 

 duction is lessened, or if the disease appears before flowers are 

 formed, no fruit whatever may set. In two or three instances, in 

 which young plants were attacked, the disease killed the plant out- 

 right, but a diseased plant ordinarily lives throughout the winter, 

 a constant disappointment to its owner, but always inspiring the 

 vain hope that greater age or better care may overcome the 

 difficulty. Fig. 2 is a graphic illustration of the appearance of 

 the disease. The box contains four plants, one of which is healthy, 

 and three diseased. The small plant in the rear died before it 

 reached full stature. It is not known that this disease attacks the 

 fruit. Fi'uit-rot appeared on some of the plants, but it was appar- 

 ently the same as that which attacks out-door plantations. 



It soon appeared probable that the disease is bacterial in origin 

 and it was at first thought that it is identical with the bacterial 

 potato blight and that our plants had originally contracted tlie 

 disease from soil taken from an infested potato field; and this 

 view was supported by the testimony of others who had ;>een 

 troubled with it and who had taken soil from potato plantations* 

 Specimens were submitted, however, to_ Dr. T. J. Burrill, of the 

 University of Illinois, who replies that the trouble is probably 

 not the same as the potato disease. A diseased tomato cion wag 



* In Horticulturists' Rule-book, 2d ed. (p. 59), which was going through the press at this time 

 the statement is made that "tlie bacterial potato-blight or rot also attacks tomatoes." I do 

 not know if this statement is true. 



