THE MOLDS OF CIGAES AND THEIR PREVENTION. 5 



terson identified the following: (1) Aspergillus subgriseus Pk., (2) 

 Macrosporium commune Rabh., (3) Sterigmatocystis castanea Pat- 

 ters., (4) Cladosporium herbarum (P.) Link, (5) Penicillium sp. 

 In general, the leaf surfaces were rather sterile of molds. 



MOLDS ON CIGARS. 



Samples of moldy cigars obtained from various sources were also 

 investigated by the method described, and the following organisms 

 were identified by Mrs. Patterson: (1) Aspergillus candidus Link, a 

 very small dingy white mold, occurring as a rather sparse growth 

 on cigars, especially near the head, but frequently in diffuse growth 

 over a considerable part of the surface, which seems to be the most 

 often present on cigars and is probably responsible for most of the 

 trouble; (2) Penicillium sp., a widely distributed mold, likely to 

 appear on a great variety of substances; (3) Sterigmatocystis 

 castanea Patters., an unusual form, not likely to be a cause of harm 

 here; (4) Cladosporium herbarum (P.) Link, one of the molds com- 

 monly turning up on decaying vegetable matter, probably not a 

 source of serious trouble here. 



It will be seen that the organisms responsible for the most serious 

 trouble {Aspergillus candidus, easily first in importance, and Peni- 

 cillium glaucum) are not represented in the list of organisms in- 

 troduced on the wrapper leaf, but seem to be always present in the 

 tragacanth gum. The conclusion seems, therefore, to follow that 

 in the case in hand the paste used in fastening the wrapper at the 

 head of the cigar brought with it the troublesome organisms. 



INFECTION EXPERIMENTS ON WRAPPER LEAF. 



It having been rendered probable that the tragacanth paste was 

 inoculated with the molds from the start, the next question to be 

 answered was that of the seat of the growth of molds on the wrap- 

 pers. As it has already been shown that the paste itself is a favorable 

 culture medium for these organisms, it follows that the tobacco leaf 

 in itself is not necessarily a favorable support for the molds. How- 

 ever, it is well known that moist tobacco leaves do become moldy 

 under conditions favoring this process, and experiments were made 

 having for their object the infection of wrapper leaves with the two 

 species of mold last mentioned. These attempts failed to produce 

 mold on the leaves used in the absence of any substance foreign to 

 the leaves that might act as a source of food for the fungi. 



INFECTION EXPERIMENTS ON CIGARS. 



In view of the nature of the problem under study, the fact that 

 cigars could be infected with molds was not open to doubt. Since 

 it had been shown that these molds do not readily grow on wrapper 



