155 



inoculation of the tubes were made from the iuuer portions of dis- 

 eased tissue by means of a sterilized platinum wire. 



The cultures obtained from both of these methods were apparently 

 similar, both contained a minute motile bacillus, having the same ap- 

 pearance as that noted in the microscopical examination. The germ thus 

 obtained Avas assumed at the time to be the same as that seen in the dis- 

 eased fruit, but its after behavior did not in all respects bear this out. 



Growth of the germ upon agar. — The growth of the germ upon slightly 

 acid slant agar was quite characteristic; it produced a vigorous growth, 

 AAith irregular outline all along the track of the needle. The color of the 

 colonies upon agar was creamy white on the margins, becoming yellowish 

 towards the center, and having a marked viscid surface. 



Inoculation experiments. — On February 15 two tomatoes which had 

 every appearance of being perfectly healthy were removed from plants in 

 an adjoining room. One of these was inoculated with a pure culture of 

 the germ, by puncturing the epidermis with a sterilized needle, and with a 

 sterilized platinum wire transferring the germs from the tube to the 

 interior of the fruit. The other fruit was infected by merely smearing 

 the germs over the surface of the pistillate portion of the fruit. After 

 inoculation both fruits were placed under a bell jar. At the end of the 

 second day the first fruit showed signs of infection; a portion of the cells 

 adjacent to the opening made for the introduction of the germ were fast 

 turning a dark color. In a week the greater portion of the tomato was 

 diseased and was giving off an offensive odor. By March 1, or fourteen 

 days after the time of infection, it was completely decomposed, while the 

 one on which infection material had been smeared showed no signs of 

 disease. 



On Mai'ch 2 two more healthy tomatoes were removed from the vines, 

 and after photographing them they were inoculated in the same way as 

 those in the previous experiment. The progress of the disease in this ex- 

 periment was not quite so rapid as in that of the first, some twenty days 

 elapsing before the whole fruit was affected. Like the first the fruit into 

 which the germs were introduced was totally destroyed, while the other 

 remained perfectly sound. The fruits Avere again photographed on March 

 22. Fig. II represents them previous to inoculation, while in Fig. Ill 

 the changed condition of the diseased fruit is shown. 



In order to determine whether the same effects would be obtained by 

 inoculating the fruit on the vine, a cluster of fruit containing four half 



