696 
Journal of Agricultural Research 
Vol. XXIV. No. 8 
died in the seedling stage. Others, however, recovered and grew to 
maturity, although thefolder plants frequently suffered not only from the 
persisting foot lesions, but also from secondary infections. As a result 
of the latter, numerous dark brown spots, about i mm. long, appeared 
on leaves, nodes, neck, and glumes, and brownish streaks were found 
present on the intemodes. The discolored areas later became paler, and 
developed a coating of Helminthosporium fructifications. On potato 
dextrose agar the fungus produced an abundance of spores, which were 
described as being straight or curved, dark blue to brown in color, 3- to 
8-septate, and measuring on the average 41 by 20 Cross inoculations 
carried out with cultures of the Helminthosporium species isolated from 
wheat and rye, indicated that the fungi from these two different hosts 
were as indistinguishable in respect to pathogenic properties as in respect 
to morphology. It is especially significant that the strains from rye 
infected barley, and that a form identified as Helminthosporium sativum 
produced infection on wheat. 
A form of disease strikingly similar to that described by L. J. Stakman 
was observed on wheat by Bassi {8) during the season of 1921 near 
Piacenze in northern Italy. Two types of the malady, “nerume,” were 
recognized, one affecting the tender shoots of wheat or rye in autumn, 
the other present the following summer on more mature plants. In the 
former type, growth is conspicuously stunted, the roots and nodes are 
involved in decay, and the leaves, besides being greatly reduced in size, 
assume a light reddish, olivaceous color and eventually wither and die. 
Characteristic lesions are found on the base of the culms either as local 
dark reddish streaks or as a more entensive discoloration. The roots are 
attacked also, the cortical tissue often being injured so severely that 
when the plants are pulled up the vascular elements are extracted from 
the cortex which remains behind. The second type of infection is mani¬ 
fested by the appearance on the leaves of .numerous small dark hrqym 
spots, but more particularly by an attack on the nodes (“marciume dei 
nodi’") so that the latter frequently show on their margins dark brown 
horizontal lines composed of spores of the fungus. Brown lesions occur 
on the internodes, as well as on the glumes, which in the final stages, after 
sporulating commences, assume a dark tinge. The kernels also often 
are attacked, then becoming discolored and failing to attain full develop¬ 
ment. The fungus on specimens of diseased plants sent to Padua for 
examination was identified as Helminthosporium gramineum. 
In a recent paper Hamblin (49) reports the prevalence of a footrot 
disease of wheat due to a species of Helminthosporium in widely sep¬ 
arated regions of New Soufifi Wales. The damage occasioned by the 
fungus in 1921 is believed to have been greater than the loss due to 
‘‘take-all,” varying from 2 to 3 up to 85 and 90 per cent. Apparently 
the symptoms of ^e Australian trouble are very similar to those noted 
in the United States and Italy. Tillering is greatly reduced, the tillers 
being usually not in excess of two or three. As the root system is poorly 
developed and affected by decay, diseased plants are easily pulled up. 
At and below the ground level ^e base of the plant shows brownish 
discoloration, either uniformly diffused through the culm and sheaths 
or present in the form of spots or streaks. The inflorescence of affected 
plants fails to attain normal development, some of the heads failing to 
set any seed, others setting seed only in a portion of the spikelets, and 
still others setting seed in all the spikelets, but the seeds remaining 
pinched and undersized. Although Hamblin gives no textual descrip- 
