56 
Journal of Agricultural Research 
V6L XIV, No. x 
Extensive work along this line is now under way, and it is hoped that by 
another season the results will have borne out their present indications 
and methods devised which may be practically applied on a commercial 
scale. 
EXPERIMENTS ON PRODUCTION OR BUIGHT-RESISTANT SPINACH 
In the fall of 1916 a number of strains of the Savoy spinach were ob¬ 
tained from various parts of the United States and Europe. These seed 
were planted in separate beds on a piece of land about 1 acre in area, 
where in 1914 spinach-blight was so serious that not a barrel of market¬ 
able spinach was harvested. Blight developed again in 1915 and killed 
a large percentage of the plants before spring, but a few plants remained 
alive and produced seed. The seed from each plant was saved sepa¬ 
rately. In 1916 it was planted on the same land. Additional strains 
of commercial seed were again planted on this land, as was also the 
supply of seed from crosses of various types of spinach, including some 
importations from Asia, grown at Concord, Mass., by Mr. J. B. Norton, of 
the Bureau of Plant Industry. It was observed that the 1915 selections 
from commercial strains were superior both in type of plants and in 
disease resistance to the commercial strains used in 1916. It was also 
observed that the seed furnished by Mr. Norton showed greater resistance 
to blight than any of the other lots of seed (PI. 11, A). Plants from the 
Massachusetts-grown seed varied widely in types, but a limited number 
of good Savoy plants were present. In the spring of 1917 seed was saved 
from the Savoy plants of the Massachusetts-grown strain, from the 1915 
selections and from the commercial strains. During the fall of 1917 the 
various lots of selected seed were tested further, both on the experiment 
station farm and to a limited extent on a number of widely separated 
commercial fields. Although the results obtained thus far are encour¬ 
aging, the nature of spinach-blight and its method of dissemination is 
such that it seems best to consider that the above experiments point to 
a possible means of control, rather than an immediate solution for the 
problem. Breeding experiments are being continued with the Savoy 
spinach and also with several types of spinach which are used com¬ 
mercially in other parts of the United States. 
SUMMARY 
(1) Spinach-blight has caused a greater annual loss to the trucking 
interests of eastern Virginia than any other single disease. It has been 
conservatively estimated that spinach-blight causes an annual loss of 
at least $200,000. 
(2) Spinach-blight is a specific disease characterized by a mottling and 
malformation of the leaves and a decided stunting of growth. The dis¬ 
eased plants go through a number of characteristic stages and finally die. 
Diseased plants may occur in definite areas or they may be scattered over 
the field. 
