ANTHRACNOSE OP CUCURBITS. 5 



previously cropped to melons. He recognized the danger of dissem- 

 ination by the transportation of diseased fruit and by means of con- 

 taminated seed. As a result of spray tests with watermelons he 

 found soda Bordeaux to be a successful control, while normal 

 Bordeaux mixture and ammoniacal copper carbonate were ineffective. 

 Between 1903 and 1908 this disease received considerable atten- 

 tion from Orton, of the United States Department of Agriculture. 

 He (31, p. 553) noted that in 1903 anthracnose was more prevalent 

 in cucumbers from New Jersey to Connecticut than in 1902, and his 

 annual observations during subsequent years reveal its prevalence, 

 as follows : 



In 1904 (32, p. 584) anthracnose was relatively unimportant except upon water- 

 melons in South Carolina, West Virginia, and elsewhere. In 1905 (33, p. 607) it was 

 common on cantaloupes and caused losses of 50 to 100 per cent of the crop in Nebraska. 

 On cucumbers it was more prevalent than in the previous year. It caused losses in 

 North Carolina, West Virginia, Ohio, and Massachusetts, and together with wilt caused 

 a loss of $100,000 in Nebraska. A severe epidemic occurred on watermelons in West 

 Virginia. 



In 1906 (34, p. 503) the disease was prevalent on cantaloupes in Indiana, Nebraska, 

 New Jersey, and West Virginia and on cucumbers in New Jersey, North Carolina, 

 West Virginia, Nebraska, Wisconsin, and Ohio. In Ohio a loss of 25 to 60 per cent of 

 the crop was estimated. Anthracnose of watermelon was reported from Nebraska, 

 Ohio, Indiana, Rhode Island, and South Carolina, and an epidemic occurred in the 

 Ohio Valley, especially in West Virginia. 



In 1907 (35, p. 582) anthracnose of cantaloupes caused injury in Massachusetts and 

 Vermont and was reported from New Jersey on cucumbers. Anthracnose was preva- 

 lent in the region around Norfolk, Va., and was also reported from Massachusetts, New 

 Hampshire, Nebraska, New Jersey, North Carolina, and Vermont. ' Anthracnose of 

 watermelons was recorded from New Jersey, South Carolina, and Ohio, and another 

 epidemic occurred in the Ohio Valley. 



In the 1908 report (36, p. 534), anthracnose is recorded as the cause of foliage injury 

 to watermelons in the South and the statement is made that the disease had been gain- 

 ing headway during the few years previous. 



This increasing importance of anthracnose as well as the recurrent 

 downy mildew led to rather extensive attempts at control by spray- 

 ing. Besides the trials made by Selby and by Sheldon, Orton and 

 Garrison published in 1905 (37) the results of spraying tests with 

 cucumbers and melons in South Carolina. The results of these tests 

 seem rather inconclusive. 



Potebnia (38, p. 82), of Russia, published in 1910 the result of 

 rather extensive studies upon the causal fungus of this disease, in- 

 cluding inoculation experiments. Kriiger, in a general considera- 

 tion of Gloeosporia in 1913, reported an unsuccessful attempt to 

 infect cucumber fruits with the fungus of bean anthracnose (28, p. 

 294) and concluded that there is no reason for considering the fungi 

 identical (28, p. 311). Matouschek (29) in 1914 recorded a heavy 

 attack on cucumbers at Vienna, and since no bean anthracnose oc- 

 curred near by as a source of infection he held that the two fungi were 



