MAY 2-192] 
STUDIES IN DISEASES OF THE JUTE PLANT. 
(1) DIPLODIA CORCHORI SYD. 
= LIRPARY 
a NEW York 
F. J. F. SHAW, D.Sc. (Lond.), A.R.C.S.,F.L.S, BOTAN:cAL 
GARDEN 
Second Imperial Mycologist. 
[Received for publication on 23rd January, 1920.] 
The Disease in the Field. 
_ Dupre the summer of 1917! an area of about 40 acres on the Pusa Farm 
was placed under jute (Corchorus capsularis). The variety grown was “ kakya 
bombai, ” a pure line race selected by the Fibre Expert to the Government of 
Bengal (Mr. R. 8. Finlow) and possessing many advantages in size and yield over 
the races commonly grown by the ryot in the great jute-producing districts of 
Eastern Bengal. Not all the area under jute was sown at the same time, some 
being sown about the middle of March and the remainder not until June. As 
the season advanced, the superior height and thickness of stem of the early sown 
portion became very noticeable. In the case of jute grown for seed, however, the 
size of the stem is not of such importance as when it is grown for fibre. 
By the beginning of August the early sown portion of the crop had reached a 
height of 10-12 feet, about twice the size of the late sown, and presented a dense 
_and almost impenetrable growth. The plants were a bright green colour but 
throughout this portion of the crop several plants appeared to be drying up and 
wilting, with the formation of a dense black discoloured band round the stem at a 
point about 2-3 feet above the ground level (Pl. I, fig. 1). Such plants ulti- 
mately lost all their leaves and were left standing as dry black stems, forming 
relatively conspicuous objects among their healthy green neighbours. Inter- 
mediate stages in the progress of the disease showed that the blackening of the 
stem nearly always commenced with the formation of a discoloured ring or band 
1 Scientific Reports of the Agricultural Research Institute, Pusa, 1917-18, page 74. 
@ 37 =) 1 
