126 TWENTY-FIFTH ANNIVERSARY Report. 
The true rust of beans was found to be an unimportant disease 
in New York. 
Since 1892 nothing has been done with bean diseases except to 
note the occurrence of a stem rot probably caused by Rhizoctonia.*# 
BEET. 
In 1899 the Station made an investigation of a sugar beet disease 
complained of by farmers in Yates and Ontario counties.2° The: 
trouble was characterized by the death of the leaves and a browning 
of the flesh of the root in its outer layers. It was decided that 
drought was responsible for the trouble. 
One other sugar beet disease, a root rot caused by Rhizoctonia, 
was given brief study in 1900.°¢ 
CABBAGE. 
Black rot®’ is a destructive bacterial disease in which the leaves 
show brown or yellowish areas, then wither and fall. Its most 
characteristic symptom is the blackening of the fine veins in the 
leaf and the appearance of black streaks in the leaf-stalk and stem. 
The cause of black rot and the biology of the causal organism 
were quite thoroughly worked out by Smith®® in the United States 
Department of Agriculture and Russell and Harding® at the Wis- 
consin Experiment Station. 
These investigators had suggested the removal of affected leaves 
as a promising line of treatment. Their theory was that by 
promptly removing from the field the diseased leaves as fast as 
they appear the disease might be checked. 
Owing to an epidemic of black rot in New York in 1898 there 
was an urgent demand from farmers for information concerning 
it, and it became imperative that the Station should undertake some 
experiments on the control of the disease. It was decided to test 
thoroughly the leaf-pulling treatment.4° During four consecutive 
* Bul. 186:11 (1901); same in Rpt. 19:104. 
*® Bul. 162:165-171 (1899); same in Rpt. 18:153-159. 
* Bul. 186:12 (1901); same in Rpt. 19:105. 
* Bacterium campestre (Pammel) Smith. 
* Smith, Erwin F. Centbl. Bakt. [etc.] 2 Abt. 3:284, 408, 478 (1899) ; ibid. 
U. S. Dept. Agr. Farmer’s Bul. 68 (1898). 
* Russell, H. L., and Harding, H. A. Wis. Sta. Bul. 65 (1808). 
“Tn this, as well as all other investigations on bacterial plant diseases 
undertaken since the organization of the Department of Bacteriology in 
1899, the Departments of Botany and Bacteriology have worked in co- 
operation. 
