ABSTRACT
Bacterial aetiology of plant diseases was first established by (Burill, 1878) in case of fire blight of pear, just two years after Robert Koch (1876) established the aetiology of the anthrax of animals. In the formative years of phytobacteriology, many knowledgeable persons also questioned the bacterial aetiology of plant diseases. However, it was left to Smith (1901) of the New American school to dispel all doubts at the turn of twentieth century that bacterium can act as the causal organism of plant disease like fungi. With his unparalleled researches along with three authoritative books on this subject, he not only established the science of phytobacteriology in sound footing, but also combined it with the mainstream of plant pathology.
