WIRE STEM OF CABBAGE 1 

 Levi Otto Gratz 



The cabbage crop ranked sixth in 1919 and 1920, and seventh in 1921, 

 in the number of commercial acres produced among fifteen leading truck 

 crops grown in the United States. During that time New York pro- 

 duced 23,287 acres of late cabbage per annum, with an average yield of 

 8.2 tons per acre. 2 In this State the crop is second only to potatoes, and 

 is the most important of all the other vegetables grown. 3 Its total value, 

 based on average prices from 1920 to 1923, inclusive, 4 approximates three 

 million dollars yearly. From 1919 to 1921, inclusive, New York ranked 

 ninth in yield per acre among twenty-one leading States for which figures 

 are available. 2 



It is an established fact that the early market bids the highest prices. 

 This is especially true for the early crop. On the Buffalo wholesale curb 

 market, in the vicinity of which these investigations were first undertaken, 

 it is not uncommon for the growers to sell their first cabbage about the 

 middle or latter part of July for eight cents or more per head, and several 

 weeks later to sell cabbage of higher quality for less than half this price. 

 Later in the season an overstocked market occasionally forces the grower 

 to return from market with part of his load unsold. It is therefore apparent 

 that a short delay in the maturing of the early crop may mean a large 

 loss to the grower. There are numerous factors which may cause such a 

 delay, as, for example, adverse environmental conditions or disease of 

 the seedlings. 



THE DISEASE 

 NAMES r HISTORY, AND GEOGRAPHICAL RANGE 



The general term damping-off may be applied to the early stage of this 

 particular disease. By this term is meant the killing of the tissues of the 

 seedling at the surface of the ground so that eventually the plant topples 

 over. More specific names, as black rot (Duggar and Stewart, 1901), 6 

 black shank disease, 6 and stem rot (Fawcett, 1909), have been applied to 



1 Also presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of Cornell University, June, 1923, as a major 

 thesis in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of doctor of philosophy. 



Authou'b acknowledgment. The writer wishes to acknowledge his indebtedness to Professor L. M. 

 Massey, under whose immediate direction this work was performed, and to the members of the depart- 

 mental staff, for many helpful suggestions and criticisms. 



* U. S. Dept. Agr., Yearbook 1921:647-649. 1922. 



5 fourteenth census of the United States, taken in the year 1920, vol. 5, p. 820-831. 1922. 

 1 U. S. Dept. Agr., Weather, Crops, and Markets 4:680. 1923. 

 ' Dates in parenthesis refer to bibliography, page 59. 



• U. S. Dept. A^r., Bur. Plant End., Plant disease bul. 1, p. 49. 1917. 



