0*t 



""*vV 



38 The Ottawa Naturalist. [May 



ciation, and to get an idea of the enthusiastic spirit of its many 

 members distributed all over the United States. One may well 

 realize the advantages of such an organization in a vast country 

 like the United States, and the future prospects of this Society 

 are very safe. 



Hitherto, any matter concerning the study of plant diseases 

 was brought before the Section of Botany at the Association's 

 meetings, or was published in various periodicals, and remained 

 duly undiscovered. Hence the Society is to be congratulated 

 upon the publication of a journal, devoted entirely to Phyto- 

 pathology, of which the first number made its appearance 

 recently. Though primarly devoted to the dissemination of 

 matter brought before the Society by its own members, the 

 editorial board, very happily chosen, assisted by a number of 

 Associate Editors from various parts of the States and including 

 a representative from Canada, however, will aim to make the 

 Journal more broadly representative, and there is no reason why 

 this Journal should not succeed and be of great value not only 

 as a national organ, but as a publication of much interest to 

 investigators the world over, who will welcome a good resume 

 of the work done by our American friends. 



It is proposed, for the present, to issue the Journal bi- 

 monthly. It has long been my hope to see a publication of this 

 kind appear in the English language, equal to Sorauer's famous 

 Zeitschrift in Germany. 



Dr. Erwin Smith, besides his many attainments and a his- 

 torian of no mean order, ushers the new Journal into the world 

 by paying homage, in an opening biographical sketch, to Anton 

 de Bary. 



Anton de Bary "none more productive of important results" 

 as the author states; "may this," he continues, "be indicative 

 not only of the breadth and inclusiveness of the new Journal, 

 but also of its standard of excellence." Truly a noble greeting! 

 May this new born babe realize all anticipations! 



The same author contributes another article with some 

 excellent photographs on the results of his study of Crown Gall 

 of plants. I intend to express my views on this interesting 

 problem in another place and hence refer to the paper only by 

 title. 



Johnson, of the United States Department of Agriculture, 

 deals with the important question of floret sterility in wheats. 

 The author's observations deserve careful study- The conclu- 

 sion reached may be summarized that the most important agents 

 causing floret sterility (at San Antonio, Texas, at least) are 

 rusts. As the rust spores, however, are frequently carried by 

 small insects known as Thrips which were found in 1908 in at 



<1 



