BACTERIA IN PLANT DISEASE. 
89 
all cases an ulcer was formed which spread more or less rapidly, 
depending upon the tissue infected. In old stems the decay was 
almost entirely internal, and did not show much until the disease 
had spread through the pith to some distant soft parts. A medi- 
cine dropper was employed to place a charge in the middle of 
several petioles of large squash leaves. Upon the next visit, 
twenty-four hours after, all such leaves had fallen to the ground, 
and the portion of the petioles below the point of inoculation, six 
or more inches in some cases, were thoroughly decayed. In short, 
the bacterial disease first found in the cucumber, and afterwards 
propagated from fruit to fruit in the laboratory, as also upon cut 
stems and petioles, is readily transmitted to vigorous living vines 
of the cucumber and squash in the field.” Sixteen seeds of squash 
were divided, and eight planted in a pot covered with a bell glass, 
watered with pure water, whilst eight in another pot were watered 
from the first with the juice of a cucumber which had decayed with 
bacteria. The first eight seeds germinated quickly, producing 
large, deep green plants ; while in the other pot only two plants 
appeared above ground, and they were of a dwarfed, sickly yellow 
colour, and did not continue to grow. The remaining six seeds, 
when removed from the soil, were decayed and noisome. 
In another experiment eight seeds were placed on blotting paper, 
moistened with distilled water, and covered. A duplicate set were 
similarly watered with a solution containing bacteria from a decay- 
ing cucumber. The first series all germinated with their usual 
vigour, while those which came in contact with the bacterial germs 
failed to germinate, and soon decayed. 
“ The pure virus was next introduced into the growing stems 
and green fruits of the tomato, and in both cases quickly produced 
a decay that caused the stems to fall and the fruit to become a 
watery mass enclosed by the skin, similar to the cucumber from 
which the bacteria were taken for inoculation. At the time of the 
experiment some boxes of young tomato plants were close at hand, 
and into the centre of one of these a decaying cucumber was placed. 
In six hours some of the stems of the tomato plant, six inches in 
height, had rotted off close to the ground, where the liquid from 
the decaying fruit had come in contact with the young plants. In 
ten hours all the plants in the vicinity of the decaying cucumber 
were destroyed.” 
This account seems to be rather conclusive, especially when 
independently and collaterally supported by evidence given by other 
observers, in respect to other plants, having similar results. 
NOTES ON EDIBLE FUNGI. 
We have just received an interesting communication from a 
fungus-eating correspondent in the United States, and desire to 
quote a few extracts, which may be of interest to mycophagists 
on this side of the Atlantic. He writes that “ the present season 
has been an exceptionally good one for ‘ toadstools.' I have 
