DISEASES OF PLANTS. 645 



26, p. 747), the author stated that he had not found any varieties of Phascolits 

 vulga7'is which were resistant to every strain of bean anthracnose. In the 

 present paper a strain of Red Kidney is described whicli lias been under 

 observation for three seasons and which seems to have marljed resistant 

 qualities. 



Plantings in greenhouse and in garden were made of the resistant variety, 

 which is called Wells Red Kidney, and of a number of other varieties, all 

 being then inoculated with four distinct strains of the fungus CoUetotrichum 

 Undcmuthianum. In these experiments the vines of Wells Red Kidney stood 

 up well and produced well-filled pods, while all the other varieties were seriously 

 infected. 



This variety seems to be a distinct strain which was originated in New 

 York about 1903 or 1904. While quite resistant to anthracnose, it is not 

 resistant to the bacterial blight caused by Bacterium pliascoli, the brown rot 

 due to Sclerotinia lihertiana, or to any of the root rots common in parts of New 

 York. 



Notes on an internal disease of cotton seed, W. L. Balls {Agr. News 

 [Barbados], IJf. (1915), No. 350, p. SlJt)- — This article gives results and con- 

 clusions from observations made in Egj'pt on cotton seed in which the per- 

 centage of failures to germinate was found to be proportional to the time 

 during which the seed cotton had been hanging in the bolls, and in which for 

 equal periods of exposure the severity of the damage was proportional to the 

 number of stainer bugs present. The author states that probably the damage 

 done by these bugs was due less to their removal of nutrient materials than 

 to the poisons they leave behind, that fungi and bacteria may enter through 

 the punctures and cause complications, and that on the same plant seeds and 

 bolls may be affected in both these ways and also by specific parasites. 



Further studies on peanut leaf spot, F. A. Wolf ( U. S. Dept. Agr., Jour. 

 Agr. Research, 5 (1916), No. 19, pp. 891-902). — In continuation of a previous 

 publication (E. S. R., 32, p. 546), the author reports investigations carried on 

 at the Alabama College Experiment Station to determine the means by which 

 the leaf spot disease is distributed and to test methods for control. It is stated 

 that as the fungus Cercospora personata is distributed by winds and insects, 

 rotation and seed disinfection are not entirely successful in controlling this 

 trouble, which at times may decrease the yield from 5 to 20 per cent. 



The native habitat of Spongospora subterranea, G. R. Lyman and J. T. 

 Rogers (Science, n. ser., ^2 (1915), No. 1096, pp. 9^0, 941). — The authors report 

 the occurrence of powdery potato scab on tubers obtained from Peru. Some of 

 the infected tubers were secured from regions where potatoes had never been 

 imported, only the original native varieties being grown. This is considered 

 to indicate that the native habitat of S. subterranea is in South America, which 

 is also the home of the potato. 



Connection of a bacterial organism with, curly leaf of the sugar beet, R. E. 

 Smith and P. A. Boncquet (Phijtopathology, 5 (1915), No. 6, pp. 335-342, pi. 1, 

 fig. 1). — In a previous publication (E. S. R., 33, p. 743), the authors called 

 attention to the presence of specific lesions in sugar beet leaves affected with 

 curly top, and also to the presence of bacteria which resemble Bacillus dianthi. 



Since the preliminary account a large amount of histological work has been 

 conducted, and the authors find that the organism is a very common inhabitant 

 of the sieve tubes of the sugar beet and that it is not confined to the curly leaf 

 disease. The bacillus is also to be found on seed, but inoculation experiments, 

 either with the juice of diseased plants or with cultures of the organism, have 

 entirely failed. . 



