A Study of Meadow-Crop Diseases in New York 101 



rom these spores, but they failed to shoot upward to agar. This fungus 

 may be the same as that described by Fries, but his description is meager. 

 Leptosphaeria culmorum Awd., which occurs on various grasses, such as 

 quack grass, timothy, and orchard grass, is probably not the perfect stage 

 of C. graminis, since single ascospore cultures from these three grasses 

 are in no wise comparable with single spore cultures of C. graminis. 



No information is available on the pathogenicity of the fungus, its 

 life cycle, or measures for its control. 



HELMINTHOSPORIUM LEAF SPOT OF BLUE-GRASS 



Suscepts 



Kentucky blue-grass suffers from Helminthosporium leaf spot in the 

 field, and orchard grass has been inoculated successfully in the greenhouse 

 with a spore suspension. Four cereals, wheat, barley, rye, and oats, were 

 inoculated in the greenhouse. No infection occurred, although blue-grass 

 inoculated at the same time did become infected. 



The disease 



History and range 



It appears that in New York blue- grass is almost universally affected 

 with this disease, since specimens have been collected in practically every 

 planting examined during 1926, 1927, and 1928. Drechsler (1923:687) 

 has collected it at many stations on Long Island, as well as in Maine, 

 Massachusetts, Connecticut, Virginia, Maryland, Illinois, and Wisconsin. 

 The disease was first mentioned by Drechsler (1922:35). Monteith 

 (1925) apparently is the only other author who makes any reference to 

 this malady. 



Economic importance 



The economic importance of blue-grass lies in its use on lawns or golf 

 courses as well as in pastures and meadows. Since this disease rarely 

 interferes with the beauty of the grass to the casual observer, it probably 

 is of minor importance in spite of its ubiquity. The disease does remain, 

 however, as an incipient menace to blue-grass, because it was observed 

 to make one lawn very unsightly under moist conditions. 



Symptomatology 



The disease occurs on leaf blades and sheaths. The first symptom to 

 appear following inoculation is a minute hydrotic spot which soon enlarges 

 and assumes a characteristic oval shape, at first uniformly reddish or 



