PENICILLIN TREATMENT OF CROWN GALL

Abstract
Crude penicillin, produced in the laboratory, has been used to cure crown gall on Bryophyllum. The galls were of the "soft gall" type, produced by hypodermic injection of a pure culture of Agrobacterium tumefaciens. The method of application of the penicillin successfully employed was to puncture the gall in numerous places with a sterile needle, and then wrap it in penicillin-soaked antiseptic cotton, thereafter frequently wetted with crude penicillin. Noteworthy, is the fact that penicillin in this instance apparently destroys a Gram-negative organism.