June 4, 1909] 



SCIENCE 



915 



Experiments made in 1908 confirm the conclu- 

 sion reached after experimenting on various ani- 

 mals in 1905, viz., that Eupatorium ageratoides is 

 the cause of trembles and milk sickness. A rabbit 

 with four sucking young was fed with this plant, 

 causing trembles in all of them. Two of the young 

 were killed and cooked and fed to a cat, causing 

 trembles. Milk from a cow with whose food 

 Eupatorium leaves were mixed caused trembles in 

 cats and rabbits. The milk was found to contain 

 aluminum and an increased quantity of magne- 

 sium, ihe urine of a rabbit fed with the weed 

 contained much aluminum. These substances exist 

 in large quantities in the ash of the plant, the 

 amount of magnesium diflfering in plants from 

 different sources. Magnesium nitrate mixed with 

 the food of a rabbit produced trembling. The 

 symptoms of trembles observed by those who have 

 lost stock from this cause are the same as result 

 from aluminum and magnesium compounds when 

 they get into the blood. 



Peach Yelloivs Disseminated by Nursery Trees: 

 J. L. Phillips, Blaeksburg, Va. 

 Peach pits and buds are sources of infection. 

 The disease does not usually appear in nursery 

 stock. It appears in orchards in the second and 

 third years. Peach pits should be sold under 

 certificate of inspection. 



A New Anthracnose Attacking Certain Cereals 

 and Ora^ses: Thomas F. Manns, Ohio Agricul- 

 tural Experiment Station, Wooster, 0. (Read 

 by A. D. Selby.) 



This paper stated briefly the results of culture 

 investigations of a fungus described as Colleto- 

 trichum cereale, n. sp. This has been found to be 

 present generally over the state of Ohio, attacking 

 the spikes, culms and sheaths of rye, the culms 

 and sheaths of wheat, oats, chess, orchard grass, 

 timothy, red-top and blue-grass. Upon the cereals 

 the attack is timed to the approaching maturity 

 of the plant and produces marked shrivelling of 

 the grain. The behavior of the fungus on different 

 media is stated, and different illustrations are 

 included. 



A New Bacterial Disease of the Sugar-heet Leaf: 

 Nellie A. Brown, U. S. Department of Agri- 

 culture, Washington, D. C. 



Last summer a new disease of the sugar beet 

 was observed in the beet fields in Utah and Cali- 

 fornia by Dr. C. 0. Townsend, pathologist in 

 charge of sugar-beet investigations. Department 

 of Agriculture, Washington, D. C, who sent ma- 

 terial to his laboratory for investigation. 



The leaves had dark brown, often black, irreg- 



ular spots from 3 mm. to 1.5 cm. in diameter. 

 They occurred on the petiole, midrib and larger 

 veins. Occasionally the discoloration extended 

 along a vein some distance and the tissue on 

 either side was brown and dry. An organism was 

 plated out of these spots without difficulty and 

 found to be a schizomycete. Inoculations were 

 made in the greenhouse and in the open field at 

 Garland, Utah. The infection did not fail to take 

 in any case. 



So far as the work has been carried, the organ- 

 ism is infectious to the sugar-beet root, leaves of 

 lettuce, sweet pepper, nasturtium, egg-plant and 

 leaves and pod of the bean. 



On agar plates the colonies are cream-white by 

 reflected light, bluish in transmitted light, thin 

 circular, rapid-growing, appearing in twenty-four 

 hours. In three days the surrounding agar be- 

 comes a yellowish green color. 



The organism liquefies gelatin, turns litmus 

 milk-blue, does not grow on Cohn's solution, 

 clouds bouillon in twenty-four hours, and is motile 

 by means of one to three polar flagella. It occurs 

 singly or in chains, the elements being short rods 

 from 2 to 4 /It long and 1 to 1.5 /i wide, when 

 grown in agar two days and stained with Loeffler's 

 stain. It grows best at a temperature of about 

 28° C. and is not killed when kept at — 2° C. for 

 six days. 



From spots produced by inoculation, the organ- 

 ism has been reisolated and the disease repro- 

 duced. One hundred per cent, of the inoculations 

 have given positive results. Both young and old 

 tissues are alike susceptible to the disease. 



A New Bacterial Disease of Nasturtium: Claea 



0. Jamieson, U. S. Department of Agriculture, 



Washington, D. C. 



In May, 1908, Dr. C. 0. Townsend. pathologist 

 in charge of sugar-beet investigations. Department 

 of Agriculture, Washington, D. C, received a 

 few diseased nasturtium leaves from Richmond, 

 Va. The wilted and partly discolored leaves 

 showed water-soaked-looking spots from 3 to 5 

 mm. in diameter. Investigation proved the disease 

 to be due to a bacterial organism belonging to the 

 genus Bacterium. Inoculations of healthy leaves 

 produce small dark, watery areas, and the tissue 

 within them discolors, shrivels and often breaks. 



The bacterium is a short rod from 2 to 4 /i in 

 length, occurring singly or in chains. The polar 

 flagella vary from 1 to 3 /i. The organism has 

 moderate vitality on culture media, clouds bouil- 

 lon in 24 hours and grows rapidly on agar, ap- 

 pearing on poured plates as small I'ound, bluish- 



