were known to contain the fungus of black-rot in various stages of 
growth, would have on the development of the parasite, but more 
especially to determine how long the fungus could live under such con¬ 
ditions, the following experiment was made by Ool. A. W. Pearson, of 
Vineland, U. J. Old berries which had lain on the ground under 
the vines all winter were collected on the 10th of May, 1888, and 
immediately buried in loose garden soil at a depth of about 3 inches. 
On the 22d of April, 1889, I visited Colonel Pearson and together we 
uncovered the grapes, finding a goodly number of them apparently 
as sound as the day they were buried. With an ordinary magnifying 
glass the pustules of the Lcestadia were easily made out, but of course 
a higher power was necessary to determine their contents. Accord¬ 
ingly some of the berries were brought to Washington, and on the 29th 
of April a number of careful examinations were made of them, but in 
not a single instance was a spore found. 
The conceptacles were as numerous as in fresh specimens, but they 
were entirely empty. In a few cases some rather loose, broken down 
mycelium was seen passing through the tissues but it did not seem to 
be in a growing condition. It appears, therefore, that the fungus does 
not live for more than one year in the old berries providing the latter 
are buried beneath a few inches of soil and are subjected to ordinary 
conditions of weather. It is very probable that most of the ascospores 
escaped from the buried grapes the first summer, germinated as soon 
as they came in contact with the moist earth and quickly perished. 
We have undertaken a series of experiments this year for the purpose 
of determining, if possible, whether burying the old berries and remov¬ 
ing the infected ones as fast as they appear has any material effect in 
diminishing the amount of rot, and if so, whether it will pay to do 
this work on a large scale. 
THE GRAPE-LEAF BLIGIIT. 
In the eastern partof the United States, especially along the Atlantic 
coast south of Pennsylvania, the leaves of both cultivated and wild 
grape-vines are often attacked and frequently considerably injured by 
a fungus known as Cladosporium viticolum. Professor Scribner has de¬ 
scribed* and figured this parasite in his u Eeport on the Fungous Dis¬ 
eases of the Grape-Vine” under the name of the u Grape-leaf Blight,” 
and in speaking of the possibility of its being only a stage of some 
higher form, says: 
u What other spore forms there may be, or how the fungus passes 
the winter, remains to be discovered.” 
In May, 1888, we found, under a wild vine (Vitis aestivalis) near 
Washington, which was badly affected the previous summer with the 
Cladosporium , a number of leaves still showing the characteristic spots 
of the disease. Careful examination of these revealed the interesting 
* Bulletin No. 2, Bot. Div. 
