302 Recognition in America 



delighted that these subjects [including pear blight] are being 

 studied, if it can only be done thoroughly." 



Early in 1897 when C. F. Wheeler, consulting botanist of 

 Michigan Agricultural College and Experiment Station, read a 

 reprint of Smith's '" Bacterial Disease of Tomato, Eggplant, and 

 Irish Potato," he wrote the Division of Vegetable Pathology and 

 thanked officials for " the finest bulletin yet issued from your 

 Department." He added, " It ranks with the best foreign work," 

 and in a letter to Smith he called it " the best slice of ivork done 

 in this or any other country.'' 



On September 19, 1896, three months before his elaboration 

 of the cultural characters of Bacillus solanacearum was released. 

 Smith had begun to study Pammel's " bacillus in cabbage leaves." 

 His laboratory memoranda show that he thought that this was 

 " possibly " an organism which Dr. Russell had studied. Cabbage 

 leaves, however, had been received the day before from Dr. J. J. 

 Davis of Racine, Wisconsin, v/hose accompanying letter of Sep- 

 tember 16 read as follows: 



I send by this mail some cabbage leaves, illustrative of a disease which 

 is doing much damage in this vicinity. I take it to be due to the small 

 oval micrococcus so abundant in the conducting tissue. Have you pub- 

 lished anything on this disease? If so I would be glad to receive a number 

 of copies for distribution to the growers here where the cabbage has become 

 an important crop. [On September 30, in another letter, he stressed that] 

 The trouble bids fair to check the cabbage industry here which has been 

 quite profitable through cold storage. 



Smith, promptly after getting the materials, described the dis- 

 ease and started cultures. By November 20 his memorandum was 

 entitled, " Bacillus campestris Pammel. First set of Fermentation 

 tubes"; November 24, "First set of inoculations in Division's 

 Greenhouse "; December 8, " Gelatine streak cultures. Made from 

 fluid cultures started December 1 and all but one of which I have 

 already used for Thermal death point experiments of December 3, 

 B. phaseoli, B. campestris, B. tracheiphilus, B. hyacinthi." " First 

 experiment with sap from waterpores," dated February 19, 1897, 

 was preceded by a "" General note on infections occurring pre- 

 sumably as the result of visitations of slugs, flies, aphids, ants, 

 etc." and a special set of experiments and observations on the 

 " Natural method of infection." During this year he demonstrated 



