958 
Journal of Agricultural Research voi. xxvii, no. » 
com seedlings are of little value until a method can be devised of ridding the seed of 
contamination of organisms or until a source is discovered from which disease-free 
seed may be obtained. Gibberella sp. may or may not be present with root and 
stalk rots. Fusarium moniliforme appears to be the more active parasite when it and 
Gibberella are associated on rotting stalks of com. Because of the high degree of 
infection with F. moniliforme over much of the com belt, it will probably prove to be 
the most common cause of root and stalk rots of com. 
In 1921 he ( 18 ) reported that— 
disease-free seed probably does not exist under average field conditions. 
Manns and Adams (9) in June, 1921, in a popular bulletin, reported 
four parasitic fungi as very common in seed corn. These are Cephalo- 
sporium sacchari , Gibberella saubinetii , Fusarium moniliforme and Dip- 
lodia zeae. They stated that— 
in this State (Delaware) com is internally infected with four different parasitic fungi, 
to the extent of 39.54, 5.95, 19.92, and 5.69 per cent, respectively, for each of the 
diseases. 
W. A. Taylor (16 , p. 33-35), Chief of the Bureau of Plant Industry, 
United States Department of Agriculture, speaking in 1921 of the rots 
of corn, reported that— 
the chief fungus parasites are Gibberella saubinetii (the wheat scab fungus), different 
species of Fusarium, especially Fusarium moniliforme , and Dip lodia zeae. 
Manns and Adams (jo) in 1923 stated that— 
a fungus unlike any previously reported in this country as far as we could determine 
was found very prevalent internal of seed com. This fungus morphologically agrees 
with the description of Cephalosporium sacchari Butler, as reported by Butler and 
Khan (4) on sugar cane in India. Butler (3, p. 402-404) also found this fungus on 
sugar canes shipped from the United States to India. In view of these facts and 
because of the close relationship between the two hosts, it seems better to refer our 
fungus tentatively to this form than to create confusion by describing a new species. 
Further studies are in progress to determine the status of our fungus. The following 
four parasites were consistently found in our studies: Cephalosporium sacchari Butler; 
Fusarium moniliforme Sheldon; Gibberella saubinetii (Mont.) Sacc. and Diplodia zeae 
(Schw.) Uev. The parasitism of these fungi has been determined by inoculations. 
So far as we have been able to determine the fungus here referred to as Cephalosporium 
sacchari is reported for the first time as a parasite of com. Fusarium moniliforme is 
considered identical with Oospora verticilloides described on com in Italy by Saccardo. 
Duddleston and Holier (6) in 1921, reported that— 
in a test of over 14,500 ears at Shelbyville, Ind., in 1920, 27 per cent showed serious 
infections of Fusarium sp. and Diplodia. 
Sherbakoff (14) in his investigations found that in Tennessee, as in 
other States, the most common Fusarium of com is Fusarium moniliforme 
Sheldon. Clayton (5) in 1922, reported that— 
work done in Ohio during the winter of 1920 and 1921 showed that the fungus Diplodia 
zeae was very prevalent in seed com. 
Dr. J. F. Adams in an unpublished departmental report for 1921 
(Delaware) on inoculation experiments on com 4 feet high to the tassel- 
ing stage, with Gibberella saubinetii , Diplodia zeae , Fusarium moniliforme 
and the fungus tentatively referred to as Cephalosporium sacchari , notes 
the following: 
The weakest lesions resulting from the field inoculations were found in the results 
of C. sacchari and F. moniliforme particularly on the younger com. The most con¬ 
spicuous lesions on the stalks were found with G. saubinetii and D. zeae. Internodal 
inoculations produced the most extensive lesions. 
The literature as here reviewed shows that investigators have deter¬ 
mined upon four different organisms as the principal ones associated 
