182 
Journal of Agricultural Research 
Vol. XXVII, No. 4 
such as 1913 and 1914. His observations during one of these years led 
him to believe the cause due to lack of plant food. The fact that the 
fields of corn observed were grown from seed from different sources was 
a factor possibly as important as lack of plant food. Hunt, 1919, (23) 
believes barren stalks are due to lack of fertility, a disease in the plant, 
or unfavorable weather conditions at time of pollination. Relative to 
diseases as the cause, he says: 
Many stalks are pronounced barren when one or sometimes several shoots are found 
which started but failed to develop. If these shoots are examined they will be found 
to be infected with a mold which probably arrested the development of the ear. 
Trost, 1922, (49) presented data which showed that 7.2 per cent of 
corn plants grown from horny seed and 11.4 per cent from starchy seed 
of the same strain of corn were barren. 
Representative corn growers and breeders of Illinois have related the 
following observations: 
Eugene D. Funk, of Shirley, Ill., writes in a letter of December 11, 1922 : 
The notes from our field men, as far back as 1901, show that we had more or less 
barren stalks in our breeding plats. At that time, however, we only made reference 
to the absence of ears and were of the opinion that the cause was due solely to heredity. 
More recent and careful study of the com plant brought our attention to the color and 
development of the foliage, as well as the color of the stalk at harvest time, and now 
we definitely recognize that the purple, barren stalks are largely the result of a disease 
of the bundles. 
Frank I. Mann, Gilman, Ill., writes in a letter of November 26, 1921: 
If we had the purplish stalks and leaves in early times, I do not remember noticing 
them. For about 20 years, however, we have had many of them. As many of them 
produce very good ears, sometimes we could not associate this character with barren¬ 
ness as fully as we do now, but still recognized it as very undesirable. There were 
a good many of these purple plants in our com this fall. It seems to be the prevailing 
cause of complete and partial barrenness in our com this season. 
Harvey J. Sconce, Sidell, Ill., writes in a letter of December 5, 1921: 
You are right in remembering that I had made a statement that in riding through 
cornfields on a horse or walking I had detected diseased com plants several feet 
ahead of me. This was particularly the case again this year as the purple-stalk 
disease was quite heavy. They were in general all barren, had suckered badly, 
and every one was easily detected. I early learned to detect these plants as my 
breeding records date back to 1904 and as early as 1908 to 1910, I made notes on sev¬ 
eral rows that showed a greater percentage of these plants than other rows. 
It is seen from the foregoing reports that both corn growers and 
investigators have described symptoms, such as barrenness, purple leaves 
and stalks, and production of nubbin ears. All of these sypmtoms fall 
into the group described herein and associated with the effects of para¬ 
sitism by the organism discussed later. As these symptoms are often 
associated with other causes, the black-bundle symptom is chosen as the 
most distinctive, hence the common name. 
In the early work on corn diseases by one of the authors (J. R. Holbert), 
the black bundles sometimes found in diseased corn were considered one of 
the symptoms of the com root, stalk, and ear rots caused by species of 
Fusarium. This belief seemed to be shared by other workers. It was 
noted as early as 1917 that purple leaves and barrenness often were 
associated with the occurrence of black bundles. In the fall of 1919 the 
writers gave special attention to an ear row in which these symptoms 
developed in about 85 per cent of the plants. After examining the roots 
of some of the plants to a depth of 6 feet with negative results as to 
the presence of lesions of any importance, it was apparent that the cause 
