Sweet-potato Scurf

The scurf disease of the sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas) was first described by Halsted, who published a brief account of it in 1890. To the fungus he gave the name Monilochaetes infuscans, a new genus and species, of which, unfortunately, he gave no technical description. For many years following his pioneer work little or no attention was given to sweet-potato diseases. This very common and interesting disease was therefore passed over until a few years ago, when the writer and others took up a study of them. For almost five years the disease has been under observation and study. It is therefore for the purpose of completing the description of the organism and recording the results of inoculation experiments and certain characteristics of the fungus heretofore unpublished that this paper is prepared.