284 GRASSES OF IOWA. 



I of the bulletins of the Illinois Agricultural 



^G?^ cP Experiment Station. Wide interest was 



•=* ^;^^>°^ attached to these investgatiocs, since Bil- 



^ V^O ^ lings,* of Nebraska, stated that bacteriosis 



^, ,„r „ . . , of corn was identical with the corn stalk 



Fig. 133. Bact e rial 



Disease of Corn (Bcmjji- disease. His peculiar method of reason- 



liw cloacece). Burrlll. ^ 



ing convinced him that the organism iso- 

 lated by him was identical with the Burrill organism. This 

 is well stated by Moore, f 



" The most interesting part of his investigations was the 

 supposed discovery of the identity of the bacillus which he 

 found in the animal tissues with the one described by Burrill 

 as the cause of a disease in cornstalks. This hypothesis is 

 supported by the fact that by feeding the diseased stalks to a 

 rabbit he produced a fatal disease, and from organs of the dead 

 rabbit he obtained pure cultures of the bacillus. He sent a cul- 

 ture of this bacillus to Burrill, who stated that the organism 

 which he (Billings) had obtained from the organs of dead cat- 

 tle appeared to be identical with the bacillus which produced 

 the disease on the cornstalks. Ttie correspondence between 

 these two investigators, published by Billings, shows that 

 Burrill was conservative on this question, pointing out obvi- 

 ous resemblances only. The responsibility of the statement 

 that the two bacilli are identical rests with Billings. " 



LudwigJ in his general work on the cryptogams refers to the 

 organism as Bacillus secalis, Burrill. Ludwig apparently first 

 applied this name. Russell used the same name. 



Moore§ and Smith, who did some very careful work, identi- 

 fied this organism as Bacillus cloace<c, which Jordan || found in 

 sewage, and is widely distributed in surface soil. 



Characters of the disease. — The first indication of the disease 

 is the dwarfed condition of the young plants occurring in spots 

 of various sizes; soil upon which it occurs is variable, though 

 it usually occurs in the richest soil. In many cases it occurs 

 upon the lowest ground. In one field Professor Burrill 

 observed the following conditions: "The season (of 1887) 



♦Original Investigations of Cattle Diseases of Nebraska. 1886-1889. 



Article II. Tiie corn stalk disease in cattle. 163. 



tCorn stalk disease. Bull. U. S. Dept. of Agrl. Bureau of Animal Indlstry. 13. 



iDle Neideren Kryptogamen. 95. Abst. Warlich Central Bakt. u I'araslten. 70. 



§Moore, A. An inquiry Into the alleged relation existing between the Burrill 

 disease of corn and the so-called cornstalk disease of cattle. Agrl. Scl. 7: 368. 



llJordan, E. O. Experimental investigations by the State Board of Health of Mass. 

 1890: 2. 8. 36. 



