178 BOTANICAL GAZETTE [SEPTEMBER 
producer in his 1913 paper, there is a reference in the 1912 paper by 
Jamieson and WOLLENWEBER (16) to a wilt produced by F. tri- 
chothecioides. They referred to inoculation experiments, and 
report wilting in 12 days, “accompanied by a yellowing of the 
leaves and a discoloration of the tissue.’’ The results of all of the 
writer’s attempts of 1911-1912 to produce wilting of potato plants 
with F. trichothecioides, excepting one, were negative. During the 
past winter, however, it was noticed again and again that sprouts 
of tubers experimentally infected with this organism were dying. 
Microscopic and cultural studies left no doubt that this organism 
was responsible for the death of the sprouts. 
Encouraged by these observations, the writer carried out some 
preliminary experiments on potato plants. Quartz was sterilized in 
6 inch flower pots in the autoclave, and 8 plants that were about 
to cm. high were transplanted into these, the stems of some being 
smeared with rice infected with F. trichothecioides, and those of 
others with rice infected with F. oxysporum. The plants so inocu- 
lated and the controls were kept under bell jars. In three days the 
three plants smeared with F. oxysporum and two smeared with F. 
trichothectoides were dead, while the third one of the latter set and 
the controls remained healthy. The experiment was also conducted 
with potato plants growing in the open bench in the greenhouse, with 
similar results. The soil in this case was not sterilized. 
The potato plants used in the following experiments were grown 
from sterilized tubers of the Early Ohio and Red Cobbler varieties 
in soil in 6 inch pots which had been thoroughly sterilized by 
heating in an autoclave for 4 hours on two consecutive days at 
15 lb. pressure. The soil was watered with sterile water through- 
out the experiments. 
On February 15, fifteen pots were planted with Early Ohio 
tubers and the soil of one set of 5 was infected with rice infected 
with F. oxysporum, of another with rice infected with F. trichothect- 
oides, while the third set was left as a control. The controls came 
up in due time, while not a single one of the others came up. This 
experiment was repeated several times, but in no case was so strik- 
ing a result obtained, although it often happened that some sprouts 
showed lesions, that some failed to come up, and that some were 
