g48 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



percentage of disease was found on the stalks grown from the seed from the 

 open locks which were badly diseased. 



The work on the elimination of disease by seed selection has been con- 

 tinued and seems to offer a practical method of eradicating this disease. 



The detection of anthracnose in cotton seed, H. W. Barre and W. B. Aull, 

 Jr. (.S'o«//( VdroHna Hta. Rpt. 1911, pp. //3-//9). — A description is given of a 

 method for determining the amount of anthracnose on the outside of seeds by 

 means of a centrifuge, the results being checked by germination tests and a 

 s-tudy of the resulting seedlings. 



The leaf-roll disease of potatoes in Saxony, 1910, K. Stobmeb and O. MoR- 

 GENTHALEB (Natufiv. Ztsclir. FoTSt. u. Latid'W., 9 {1911), No. 12, pp. 521-551, 

 figs. 2). — Tlfis is a report on the appearance and progress of this disease and 

 the growth of potatoes in relation to such factors as seed, soil, weather, and 

 cultural methods, the last including fertilization, spacing, seed time, etc. The 

 method is semi-statistical, and the work is based on correspondence and re- 

 ports from some 25 divisions of Saxony. 



On potato rot, H. Kuhl {CcntU. Bakt. [etc.], 2. AJ)t., 31 (1911). No. l-I,, 

 pp. lOG-lOS). — The author describes the appearances characteristic of tubers 

 infected by Fusarium and by Phytophthora. He also gives an account of his 

 experiments, during which he found that sound potatoes were infected from 

 diseased ones in a damp receptacle, but not in a dry atmosphere; also, that 

 infected potatoes planted in sterilized soil sprouted while rotting in the way 

 characteristic of the disease. He thinks it probable that the potato rot has 

 reached its present extensive range through insufficient precautions heretofore 

 taken in handling the crop. 



Suggestions for the combating of diseases and insect pests affecting thf 

 sugar beet (Ann. Amei: Rpt. Sugar Beet Seed Breeding Sta. Wohanka tC- Co., 

 S (1910), pp. 30-51}). — Information is given concerning the nature, spread, and 

 ravages of several important diseases of the sugar beet, with remedies recom- 

 mended. These include leaf spot (Cercospora beticola), root rot (Rhisoctonia 

 riolacea), black root rot (Phoma hetce), sugar beet webworms (Loxostege sticti- 

 calis) and worms of similar habits, sugar beet nematode or eelworm (Heterodera 

 schachtii). sugar beet root louse (PempMgus hetw and Tychea brevicornis) , 

 crown gall, etc. 



Suggestions are made that sugar factories and seed raisers combine resources 

 and unite on various measures for the prevention, control, or eradication of 

 various pests. 



Blossom end rot of tomatoes, H. P. Stxtckey and J. C. Temple ( Georgia Sta. 

 Bui. 96, pp. 69-91, figs. 7). — The authors present their conclusions relating to 

 the cause and methods of control of the blossom end rot of tomatoes. According 

 to their investigations, this disease is of nonparasitic origin and is not infectious. 

 They claim that the organism found accompanying it can not produce the 

 disease except when the plant is under unfavorable conditions. 



Experiments to control the disease were carried on both in the laboratory 

 and in the field, in which spraying, effect of nitrogenous manures, crop rotation, 

 variety resistance, and soil moisture were tested. Rotation of crops and pick- 

 ing and destroying rotten fruit were of no value in the control of the disease. 

 Staking the plants, instead of diminishing the loss, increased it. Spraying had 

 little or no effect. There was nothing observed in the experiments to indicate 

 that the use of nitrate of soda or stable manure increased the tendency to rot. 

 Only the small varieties of tomatoes proved resistant to the disease. The dis- 

 ease, it is concluded, can be controlled, if not entirely prevented, by keeping an 

 abundant supply of water in the soil. 



