452 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



both successfully used in checkiug celery damp-oft" (Sclcrotinia libertiana) . An 

 investigation of celery blight {Cercospora apii) led to the conclusion that the 

 disease was in the soil rather than in the celery seed, although the bed had 

 only recently been cleared. Inquiries made led to the information that the 

 tested soil had been a dumping ground for trash and refuse from a neighboring 

 celery field. 



Notes are given on a number of varieties of eggplants and radishes being 

 tested at the station. 



Mildew of ginseng, H. H. Whetzel (Abs. in Science, n. ser., 31 {1910), No. 

 SOS. pp. 1'90. I'.il). — The mildew of ginseng, due to Pliyiophthora cactorum, has 

 been known in .Japan for some years, a previous account of it having been noted 

 elsewhere (E. S. R., 19. p. 752). The disease was reported by Van Hook (E. 

 S. R., 18, p. 342) as occurring in New York and Ohio in 1905. 



The author has observed it since that time and states that it appeared in 

 epidemic form in New York in 1909. A careful study showed the presence of 

 Phytophthora in abundance, and inoculation experiments resulted in prompt 

 infection. It is stated that as much as 20 per cent loss was occasioned by this 

 fungus in some beds in New York. 



Lettuce sclerotiniose, F. L. Stevens and J. G. Hall (Abs. in Science, n. ser., 

 31 (1910). No. 802, p. 7o2). — A brief summary is presented of some of the re- 

 sults of experimental investigations on a sclerotina disease of lettuce, together 

 with statistical and physiological studies on the fungus. 



Special attention has been given the parasitism and saprophytism of the 

 organism, and it is believed that the ascospores and the mycelium are short 

 lived and that the sclerotium is the only long-lived structure. The early de- 

 struction of affected plants through the prevention of formation of sclerotia is 

 believed to be a promising means for the eradication of this disease. 



A fungus enemy of mushroom growing. Flora W. Patterson (Abs. in 

 Science, n. ser., 31 (1910), No. 802, p. 756). — The author describes the fungus 

 Mycogone perniciosa which has been received from mushroom beds in Pennsyl- 

 vania. The disease caused by this fungus has been long recognized as a serious 

 one in Europe, but apparently has not been previously reported in this country. 



A new tomato disease of economic importance, E. F. Smith (Abs. in Science, 

 n. ser., 31 (1910). No. 803, pp. 79Ji-796). — The author's attention was called in 

 1909 to a stem disease of tomatoes prevalent in the vicinity of Grand Rapids, 

 Mich. A microscopical examination showed the absence of fungi and great 

 numbers of bacteria, and from poured plates a yellowish bacterium was obtained. 

 Inoculation experiments have shown that this organism readily produces the 

 characteristic disease and that, unlike the southern bacterial disease of to- 

 matoes, which results in a sudden collapse of the plant, the progress of the new 

 tomato disease is comparatively slow. 



The loss occasioned during 1909 in the vicinity of Grand Rapids, Mich., iff 

 said to have amounted to from $8,000 to $10,000. The author believes that the 

 disease is prevalent in many other parts of the northern United States, but has 

 hitherto been confused with the more rapidly acting disease due to Bacterium 

 solanacearum. The organism is tentatively described as B. michiganense n. sp. 



Anthracnose of the blackberry and raspberi-y, W. H. Lawrence (WasJiing- 

 ton Sta. Bui. 97, pp. 3-18, figs. 5). — On account of the yearly failure of a con- 

 siderable percentage of the fruit of the Snyder blackberry to develop properly 

 an investigation of the causes was undertaken, and a report is made of cooper- 

 ative and other tests with recommendations as to methods of preventing this 

 trouble. 



The cause was found to be anthracnose (Gloeosporium venetum), which in 

 the Puget Sound country attacks the Snyder, Kittatany, and Himalaya Giant 



