58 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



entire fruit involved. Inoculation was made upon one-lialf or two-thirds grown 

 tomatoes still remaining on the vines, and produced the disease in all cases where 

 the epidermis was punctured. All attempts to infect the fruit through the flower 

 proved futile. Some doubt is expressed as to whether the two diseases are due to 

 the same organism. This is to be a subject of further investigation. From the lim- 

 ited knowledge of the disease, no preventive measures are suggested. 



A new^ method of conibating- club root of cruciferous plants, J. Bikvenich 

 {Bill. Arhor. d Flor., 1900, ]>}>. 337-340). 



A disease of turnips caused by bacteria, W. Carruthers ami A. L. Smith 

 [Jour. Bui. \^London'\, 39 {1901), No. 4o7, 2>P- 33-36, figs. 2; and Jour. Roi/. Soc. 

 lErujland'], 3. ser., 11 {1900), pi. 4, PP- 738-741, figs. 2).—X disease of turnips has 

 been the suljjectof investigation by the authors for a number of years. The injured 

 plants had the crown of young leaves destroyed, and a cavity scooped out of the 

 turnip occupied the top immediately below where the leaves had grown. This cavity 

 was empty, its wall a dark-brown color, and the remaining tissues were protected by 

 the development of a corky layer. There was no indication of injury in the turnip 

 beyond the wall of the empty cavity. The first specimen of this disease suljmitted 

 to the authors was in 1893. In 1900, in Yorkshire, the disease was very prevalent. 

 In the worst cases the young leaves disappeared from the crown or rotted away. 

 The outer older leaves showed signs of wilting, their stajks decaying at the base. 

 As a rule, the outer skin of the turnip was sound. In some instances, where the top 

 was scooped out, the depression was lined by a white slimy substance; in other cases 

 the injury had penetrated farther through the turnip and the whole center \\as a 

 mass of rotten pulp. A careful examination of the leaf and root showed the injury 

 was due to bacteria, which had probably gained access to the plants between the 

 bases of the young leaves or through the broken surface of the root. Sections taken 

 from the diseased parts were swarming with l)acteria. They were motile, cylindrical 

 rods, measuring 0.65// in width antl 1 to 4// in length. 



Later a careful field examination was made, upon which it was found that in a field 

 of 25 acres not one turnip in five had escaped. Yellow turnips had suffered very 

 little. CaVjbages growing near were somewhat diseased, but a strip of kohl-rabi 

 through the center of the severely diseased area was without injury. At a later 

 period the progress of the disease was to a large extent checked. This was probably 

 due to the destruction of so many of the leaves, leaving the rows somewhat bare. 

 The sunlight and air gained free access to the roots and the bacteria were dried up or 

 destroyed. The well-known action of sunlight on bacteria is cited, and it is thought 

 probal)le that the same influence had been exerted in the turnip field, for in many 

 cases thi' only trace of injury observed was a clean walled cavity at the top of the 

 turnip. 



Experiments on the sulphur-lime treatment for onion smut, ¥. A. Sirki.ve 

 and r. C. Stewart {New York 8lule Sta. Bui. 182, pp. 14S-172, figs. 2). — The smut 

 caused by Urocystis cepulx is said to be exceedingly troublesome in the onion fields 

 of some portions of New York. AV'^hen onions have been grown continuously on the 

 same land, the smut gradually continues to increase from year to year until crops 

 can no longer be profital^ly grown. The organism is a soil-inhabiting fungus, and is 

 rarely transferred except as carried on the bulbs. Numerous methods of combating 

 this disease have been suggested and some of them practiced. It is a rather common 

 practice to use larger quantities of seed than required, the idea being that a portion 

 of them will escape the disease. Rotation of crops and deep plowing have been sug- 

 gested. As the fungus attacks the onion in a very young stage as a seedling, it has 

 been recommended that the young plants be started in- beds where the soil is unin- 

 fested and thence transplanted to the field. This method is known to give freedom 

 fromi the smut, but large growers do not practice it on account of the expense in 

 transplanting. In order to ascertain some cheaper method of treatment, the authors 



