Apr. 15, 1921 
Bacterial Spot of Tomato 
125 
be confused in any way with the two vascular bacterial diseases described 
by Smith (77, p . 161 , 174). Nor is it similar to the “stripe” disease of 
tomatoes recently described by Paine and Bewley (10) in England and 
attributed to Bacillus lathyri . 
Many workers have found bacteria associated with blossom-end rot 
which we now recognize as a nonparasitic disease. Prillieux (74, p. 19) 
in 1895 termed blossom-end rot a bacterial disease. In 1898 Earle 
(5, p. 79) studied blossom-end rot in the field crop in Alabama and 
attributed it to bacteria which he isolated. He was of the opinion 
that insects carried the infection. About the same time Stuart (18) 
met with what was apparently blossom-end rot in Indiana on greenhouse 
tomatoes and attributed it to bacteria which he isolated. He states, 
however, that the lesions were not invariably at the blossom end. Miss 
Smith ( 16 ) in 1907 also found bacteria associated with blossom-end rot 
in Massachusetts. 
In 1910 Pavarino (77) in Italy described blossom-end rot and a species 
of bacteria which he isolated. He states, however, that the disease was 
not confined to the fruit but was present on other parts of the plant, and 
he claims to have reproduced these symptoms by wound inoculation. 
His illustrations do not resemble bacterial spot, but his organism rather 
closely resembles the form causing bacterial spot, and it is of course pos¬ 
sible that he was working with a combination of blossom-end rot and 
bacterial spot, since both diseases might have been present in the fields. 
Groenewege (6) in Holland, two years later, also ascribed blossom-end 
rot to a species of bacteria which he isolated and described. He was 
able to secure inoculation upon ripening fruit by means of wounds but 
not upon green fruit nor upon other parts of the plant. It is not at all 
likely that he was dealing with bacterial spot, even though his organism 
somewhat resembles the form causing that disease. 
Coons and .Nelson (5, 4) in Michigan were the first to determine the 
nature of the bacterial spot disease which, however, they knew as canker. 
They isolated a yellow bacterial organism from fruit lesions in 1917 and 
in August of that year secured infection by means of needle prick inocula¬ 
tion of fruits on a caged plant in the field. In April, 1918, they also 
secured infection of bagged fruit in the greenhouse but did not obtain 
any foliage infection on sprayed plants. Only green fruits were inocu¬ 
lated. These workers, therefore, had the causal organism in culture and 
proved its pathogenicity. Unfortunately, their cultures died and it has 
been impossible to make a comparison with those used in the present 
studies. 
relation to bacterial spot of pepper 
Assuming, upon the strength of successful reciprocal cross inocula¬ 
tions, that bacterial spot of pepper is caused by the same organism, we 
include a brief account of that disease. 
