GRASSES OP IOWA. 283 



made the positive declaration that bacteria do not produce 

 diseases of plants. 



De Bary undoubtedly was one of the most critical and care- 

 ful of the German botanists. He says: 



" Parasitic bacteria do not often appear, according to our 

 present experience, as the contagia of diseases in plants. " 

 When De Bary wrote, the following diseases of plants had 

 been demonstrated as due to bacteria: Pear and apple blight,* 

 yellow disease of hyacinth plants;! a disease of wheat, destroy- 

 ing the grain, producing a rose-red color; was supposed, also, 

 by Prillieuxt to be due to a micro-organism, which destroys 

 the starch grains. Reinke and Berthold|| also described a wet- 

 rot in potatoes. Later experiments of Van Tiegham§ confirm 

 the results of Reinke and Berthold, that Clostridium butyricum 

 {Bacillus amylobacter), caused a wet-rot in potitoes. 



More recently the list of diseases has been considerably 

 extended. Black rot of cabbage and rutabaga, melon wilt, 

 bacterial disease of rutabaga, tuberculosis of the olive, sor- 

 ghum blight, bacterial disease of oats, corn wilt, bacteriosis 

 of tomato, egg plant andliish potatoes, cane disease, gumming 

 of cane and others are caused by bacteria.*; 



The literature of the whole subject has been critically 

 reviewed by Dr. Erwin F. Smith.** 



In regard to forage plants we are concerned with few of 

 these diseases, namely, bacterial diseases of corn, corn wilt, 

 sorghum blight and bacterial disease of oats. 



BACTERIOSIS OF CORN. 



In 1889 Burrillf f described a new bacterial disease of corn 

 known as " corn blight, ' ' and later published an account in one 



♦Burrlll. Anthrax of fruit trees or the so-called flre-bllght of pear trees, and twig- 

 blight of apple trees. Proc. of Am. Ass., Adv. of Scl. 1880: Bacteria as a cause of dis- 

 ease In plants. American Naturalist, July, 1881. 



Arthur. Pear blight. Annual Report New York Agricultural Experiment Station 

 1884:357. 1885:241. 1887: 275-388. Bibliography. 300. Am, Nat. 1885: 1181, 



History and biology of pear blight. Proc. Phil. Acad, of Nat. Sci. 1886:332-341. 

 Separate. 



tWakker, J. H. Onderzoek d. Zlekten van Hyacinthen, Harlem. Bot. Centralblatt. 

 14: 315. 



$Oorrosion de grains de ble. etc., par les Bacteriees. Bull. Soc Bot. de France. 26: 

 SI, 167. 1870. 



§Die Zerzetzung d. Kartoffel durch Pilze. Berlin. 1879. 



IIDeveloppement de 1' Amylobacter dans les plantes al' Petat de vie normal. Bull. 

 Soc. Bot. de France. 36. 283, 



lErwln F. Smith. Bull. Div. of Vegetable Pathology. U. S. Dept. Agrl. 12. 



♦♦American Naturalist. 1896: 626,716,796,912. 1897:34.133. 



ttA bacterial disease of Indian corn. Proc. Soc. Prom. Agrl. Sci. 10: 19. 1889. 



Bull. 111. Agrl. Exp. Sta. Aug, 6: 1889. 



