195 
STATUS OF THE SORGHUM BLIGHT. 
By W. A. Kellerman and W. T. Swingle. 
Attention is called to two papers, whose titles in full are as follows: 
(1) Notizi&pretiminari sopra alcuni fenomeni di fermentazione del Sor¬ 
go saccarino vivente (Preliminary notice concerning phenomena of fer¬ 
mentation in living saccharine sorghum). Nota dei Socii correspon- 
denti Palmeri e Gomes. Adunanza del di 1° dicembre 1883. Estratto dal 
Rendiconto della R. A ccademia delle Scienze fis. e mat. di Napoli. Fasci- 
colo 12° dicembre 1883. 
(2) Una Rivendicazione di Prioritd sulla Malattia del Sorgo saccarino 
(A vindication of priority concerning the malady of saccharine sor¬ 
ghum). Pel Socio Dr. 0. Gomes. Adunanza del dl 8 agosto 1889. Estratto 
dal Rendiconto del Reale Istituto d’ Incoraggiamento. Fascicolo 7° e 8° 
luglio e agosto 1889. 
The authors of the first paper, Professors Palmeri and Comes, noticed 
in 1882 in the expressed juice of saccharine sorghum minute forms 
similiar to ferments, but they made no further observations in regard 
to the same until the following year. In 1883 they found at Castellam- 
mare (Italy) that the canes presented a conspicuous coloration ; in some 
cases the whole interior portion of the cane was red. This condition 
gave rise to the suspicion that here was presented the effect of the attack 
of Ustilago Reiliana , Kiihn. But on the other hand, they noticed an in¬ 
crease of temperature in a bundle of canes, which was still more marked 
in a heap of reduced cane awaiting the extraction of the juice. The 
juice obtained was red in color and immediately underwent sponta- 
neous alcoholic fermentation wbicli was accompanied, or at least imme¬ 
diately followed, by an acetic fermentation. Examination was then 
made to determine whether fermentation took place in the juice previ¬ 
ous to its extraction. For this purpose a cane was made use of that 
had been in store for eight days. It was cut into small pieces, put into 
water and subjected to distillation. The distilled liquid gave an al¬ 
coholic odor and furnished also, with Muntz’s method, evidence of al¬ 
coholic content. 
Professors Palmeri and Comes then sought to determine whether simi¬ 
lar results would be obtained both in the vigorous growing canes attacked 
with the Ustilago , and also in healthy and uninfected plants. They 
took for this purpose from a farm at Ponticelli a few plants presenting 
the red discoloration, and others that showed no signs of the disease. 
Distillation one hour later resulted in the detection of alcohol in the 
case of the red canes, but none was found in case of the normal and 
healthy plants. 
Sound canes were uniformly found to be white within, but affected 
ones were a red orange color. The coloration appears first in the fibro- 
vascular bundles. It is light yellow, but in marked contrast to the 
