3i8 Maine; agricui^turaIv e;xpe;rime;nt station. 1909. 



organism themselves were readily killed by drying. They were 

 doubtless all dead before the tubers were planted. 



The Avriter is of the opinion that the disease starts as a rule, 

 not from organisms resting on the unbroken skin of the sur- 

 face of the tuber, but rather from those lurking in wounds, 

 cracks or decayed portions of the flesh of the tuber where the 

 disinfecting solutions may not penetrate. Hence seed treat- 

 ment with any disinfecting solution should be supplemented by 

 rigid inspection and the rejection of seed tubers which show 

 any diseased or unsotmd portions. 



G'EOGRApi-iicAi, Distribution in America. 



The extent of the distribution of this disease in the United 

 States is indicated by the records of the Plant Disease Survey 

 of the Bureau of Plant Industry at Washington. Mr. W. W. 

 Gilbert, assistant pathologist, writes as follows : "I have looked 

 through our records and find we have located the blackleg dis- 

 ease of potatoes in the following places : In South Carolina, in 

 the trucking sections in the vicinity of Charleston ; in Virginia, 

 about Norfolk, Portsmouth, and at several points on the Eastern 

 vShore ; in Maryland at Beltsville ; in New York, on Long Island ; 

 in Colorado in the vicinity of Greeley; in Ohio at Plainsville, 

 ■.and I find also a note of Mr. Orton's which states that the dis- 

 ease probably occurs in Oregon." 



Answers to incpiries addressed to officials in experiment sta- 

 tions in the following states : Alabama, Connecticut, Delaware, 

 Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Maryland, New Hampshire, New 

 Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Rhode Island, South Caro- 

 lina, Vermont, Virginia and Wisconsin, indicates that except in 

 Virginia the disease is not common enough to attract attention, 

 it only being reported from the states mentioned below : From 

 Connecticut Dr. Geo. P. Clinton writes : "I think that 'blackleg' 

 disease you describe is the same as that I mention in my 1904 

 Report, p. 324, questioning if it is the southern bacterial dis- 

 ease." In Maryland Proi. J. B. S. Norton reports one authentic 

 case from Somerset County, but expresses the opinion that the 

 disease is more common than this indicates. One doubtful case 

 is reported by Dr. F. L. Stevens of North Carolina. In Rhode 

 Island Prof. G. E. Adams reports one case where the seed 



