Egg plant rots 
279 
stems and it is productive of no serious injury. The two organisms last 
named have been under investigation during the past two years and will 
receive further consideration. 
1. Ascochyta ho riorum (Speg.) C. 0. Smith. 
This organism together with the nature of the disease which it 
produces and methods of control have several times (4, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12) 
been subjected to careful study and consequently are quite well known. 
The present intention is, therefore, only to confirm certain of these con¬ 
clusions and to con¬ 
tribute additional ob- 
ervations. 
Appearance of 
the disease: The 
disease may be present 
on leaves, stems and 
fruits but by far the 
greatest amount of 
damage results from 
the decay of the fruits. 
Egg plants of all 
ages are subject to 
attack. The disease 
may even evidence it¬ 
self as a damping off 
of seedlings before 
they have been trans¬ 
planted to the field. 
Lesions, beginning as 
water soaked areas, 
appear upon the stems 
near the surface of the 
ground. These become 
sunken and the plant 
topples over, the stem 
bending at the point 
of constriction as is 
characteristic of an at¬ 
tack by a damping off 
fungus. Infected seed¬ 
lings, for the most part, 
perish. The minute, dark fruit bodies of the fungus may appear on these 
sunken areas. The leaves, too, may be affected before the plants are removed 
from the seed bed and the disease continues throughout the summer and 
autumn until the plants succumb to the effects of frosts. A discolored spot, 
less green than the surrounding tissue, first appears at the point of infection. 
This diseased area increases in size, becoming dead and brown at the 
center, and adjacent tissues are chlorotic. These spots vary in size from 
2 to 10 mm and are in the main circular to ellipitical in outline. Large 
dead patches several centimeters across and more or less irregular may 
eventually be formed or by confluence a large portion of the leaf may 
Fig. 1. 
Egg plant fruit attacked by Ascochyta 
hortorum. X 1 / 2 . 
