ON THE TRAIL OF THE FUSARIUM SPORE 153 



to make the cabbage look decidedly wilted, then 

 to turn the leaves yellow and black at the juncture 

 with the stalk, and finally to make the stalk; so de- 

 cayed at the ground that it fell over one evening, 

 unable to combat the unequal odds. 



As it did so, Cock Robin flew down and picked up 

 a big cabbage worm which had just abandoned ship, 

 and as he hopped over under the shade of the to- 

 mato vines, one of the villains went along, dropping 

 off to wreak destruction on the tomato vines as he 

 had done on the lettuce and cabbage. Here he did 

 his work equally well, and in a few weeks' time many 

 of the tomatoes were in a decided state of collapse — 

 so much so that Farmer Good decided to pull up and 

 remove all the diseased plants of all kinds. But, in- 

 stead of burning the decayed vegetation, he had it 

 thrown over in an oat stubble field, which was being 

 plowed for the following corn crop. Here the vil- 

 lain and his companions wintered through until the 

 spring, when the com crop was planted. 



"Come on, fellows! Hurry up! Here is where 

 we get to work again," exclaimed the villain as he 

 awakened his companions on a nice morning in May. 

 "The ground is full of young and tender corn roots, 

 just the thing to keep us alive and make us prosper- 

 ous all the rest of the summer," continued the rascal 



