A newspaper's investigation. 171 



way was to remove the infected plants, so as to save the 

 healthy plants. 



It took Mr. Eadam only another step to discover that, 

 in reality, the various kinds of microbes had a similar 

 effect upon plants — that is, they attacked the plant and 

 caused fermentation. The rust on the rose leaves, he 

 found, was nothing but fermentation, the result of the 

 action of microbes. The rotting away of the wood of 

 plants was fermentation. He applied the theory to 

 other things with equal success. 



Mr. Radam also noticed that plants inherit the seeds 

 of the microbes. On many occasions he preserved the 

 seeds of a yellow-looking arbor vitae that was sickly, and 

 sowed them. The result was a growth of sickly- looking 

 yellow plants, which either soon died or never amounted 

 to anything. The blight of the pear tree he transferred 

 by budding to healthy trees. In a short time those 

 trees were affected by the blight. The bacteria which 

 he transferred from a yellow-looking tree to a healthy 

 one inoculated it so that it soon became yellow. These 

 discoveries were of inestimable value to him after- 

 ward. 



Early in his career as a gardener Mr. Eadam sought 

 means to kill the microbes or bacteria which affected 

 his plants. Thousands of experiments were made. He 

 tried various alkalies and acids, tobacco smoke, and 

 borax. None of them worked successfully. If he suc- 

 ceeded in arresting the progress of disease in his plants 

 he had to apply something so strong that the plants died 

 from the effects of the remedy. 



As the years rolled on he continued his investigations. 

 One day there came to him a happy thought. He had 

 already discovered that all the diseases of plants were 

 caused by microbes, or bacteria. Their action produced 

 fermentation. Without fermentation there could be no 

 disease. As the coral reef is the tomb of myriads of 

 tiny insects, so he found that in fermentation, which 

 they caused, the microbes lived, propagated, and died. 

 Fermentation was their result. If he could at once ar- 



