1897. J PUBLIC DOCUMENT — No. 33. 61 



securing a rugged stock and to keep a more watchful care 

 over the plants during their critical period of transplanting, 

 thus rendering them less susceptible. 



A Stem Hot of Uie Cultivated Aster. 



My attention was first called to this disease during the fall 

 of 1895, while visiting the florist, Mr. L. W. Goodell of 

 Pansy Park, who raises a large variety of asters for seed. 

 The specimens obtained from Mr. Goodell were gathered 

 rather late in the fall, when the disease was far advanced, 

 being characterized at this stage of its development by a 

 general blackened and shrivelled condition of the whole 

 plant. Closer observation of the specimen, however, lo- 

 cated the point of attack on the stem, close to the root,' 

 where the epidermal tissues which surrounded the abnor- 

 mally hardened wood were more or less disintegrated. 



A microscopic examination of the tissues of the aflfected 

 parts showed a variety of organisms, such as bacteria (mi- 

 crococci), nematode worms, and such mould-like fungi as 

 Alternaria, Macrosporium and Physarium. Some of these 

 organisms alone might give rise to the disease, but it is 

 more probable that most of them were merely accompanying 

 factors of the diseased conditions to which the plants were 

 subjected. 



The bacteria and nematode worms were by far the most 

 abundant, the bacteria especially being widely distributed 

 through the tissues, on that part of the stem adjacent to the 

 roots. Owing to the fact that all of the material at our dis- 

 l)osal was in too advanced a stage, it was impossible to arrive 

 at any definite conclusion in regard to the cause of the dis- 

 ease. Since examining the specimen obtained from ]Mr. 

 Goodell we have heard of the disease as occurring in other 

 places. Among them may be mentioned Mr. Joseph Ammer 

 of Springfield, who writes us as follows : — 



Dear Sir: — In reply to your favor of September 21, I am 

 sorry to say that I cannot send you a specimen of the aster plants, 

 because they are all past. The plants appeared to be in a good 

 and vigorous condition up to the time of setting flower beds, when 

 they began to wilt very rapidl3% and in a little more than a week a 

 whole bed of seventy-tlve or one hundred plants was nearly if not 



