13 



whether the frerms can live and increase in the soil where no beans 

 are growing, although this is probable. 



Bean straw from infected fields may be burned. If it is fed to 

 animals or used as bedding, the manure should be returned to 

 the field on which the beans grew, and not spread on fields as yet free 

 from the disease. 



This Department will continue its work with the disease, and we 

 hope to make a survey of the commercial bean-growing areas of the 

 Province about the time of bean harvest this season. We shall be 

 glad, at any rate, to examine diseased bean plants and seeds intended 

 for planting. 



SOFT ROT OF WHITE TURNIPS, CAULIFLOWERS, 



CABBAGES, ETC. 



During the last few years we have examined a number of the 

 soft rots, caused by several diff"erent kinds of microbes. In one case 

 we made a special study of the causal organism, which proved to be a 

 new species. Considerable study was devoted to a rot of Swedes 

 which has caused much loss to farmers in different districts of the 

 Province. We also found that one of the causes of a soft rot of celery 

 was due to a common soil organism which heretofore had not been 

 found able to produce disease in plants. 



The soft rot of white turnips, cauliflowers, etc., has been ra^her 

 common during the last few years. In 1901 much damage was done 

 to market gardens in the v^icinity of Guelph, and wherever white 

 turnips were grown there was considerable rot during the season of 



1901. 



Cause. This soft rot is caused by a microbe — a bacillus or rod- 

 like organism (scientific name, Bacillus oleraceae) which increases 

 very rapidly when once it has gained admission to the plant. It 

 secretes a substance which has the power or property of dissolving 

 the cell wall of the plant. The cells are thus separated from one 

 another, break down, and a soft, pulpy mass is the result. From this 

 action of the microbes, the common name " Soft Rot " has originated. 



Symptoms. The character of the rot is similar in all plants that 

 are attacked. In the cauliflower, the head or edible part breaks 

 down into a soft pulpy mass, brown to black in color, usually with 

 an objectionable smell. Cabbages behave in a similar manner. In 



