Stem Eelworm. 



469 



there were fungi present, together with the eel worms. In 

 some specimens of diseased clover plants from large fields 

 where " clover sickness " was rampant, the stems of the 

 affected plants were swarming with eelworms ; there 

 was also in the same plants injury caused by the action 

 of the fungus Sclerottm'a trifoliorum [Wall), described by 

 Mr. Carruthers in a report to the Council of the Roy a 

 Agricultural Society in February, 1898, as doing much harm 

 to young clover in various parts of England. It was most 

 difficult to determine whether the Tylenchus or the fungus 

 was the primary source of the injury to the clover plants. 

 It is well known that eelworms are a frequent cause of 

 " clover sickness," so that their occurrence with the 

 Sclerotinia fungus was probably accidental. 



All kinds of clovers are subject to infestation by these 

 eelworms, which are very destructive to Trifolium incar- 

 ?iatum, especially if it is sown late and is weak, as it often 

 is during the winter, in which case it soon succumbs to the 

 onslaught of the eelworms. Common red clover also suffers 

 extremely from " sickness " due to eelworms, especially when 

 it is sown with an oat crop, and entire fields are often 

 utterly ruined. In clover left for two years bare patches, 

 which extend widely in the second year, are often seen. 

 While the clover plants are small, and during winter when 

 their growth is practically arrested, the eelworms get the 

 upper hand of them. 



Infestation of wheat plants is not very common, but it 

 does sometimes occur, and causes much harm, particularly in 

 wheat sown in the spring. A very bad infestation of spring 

 wheat was reported in 1897. The plant was even and strong 

 at the time when the ears should have been put forth. No 

 ears, however, were produced during the summer, nor 

 any ear-bearing stems, and the wheat plants through the 

 summer and up to December resembled long coarse grass. 

 They were brilliantly green in December, from 8 to 10 

 inches long, and had tillered abundantly. The densely 

 matted stems were swollen at the crown of the roots, many 

 being bulbous, or "tulip-rooted." Upon stripping off the 

 sheathing leaves the inner leaves were found in a flabby 



