250 agriculture of maine. 



Cooperative Work with F'ederal Pathologists. 



One important recent development in connection with the 

 study of potato diseases in Maine is known to some members 

 of the .Vssociation, but I doubt that the situation is generally 

 understood. Therefore, it may be well to discuss it in some 

 detail. 



The Station has been giving attention to this subject ever 

 since Doctor Woods became director. In the summer of 1906 

 the Department of Plant Pathology was established, with the 

 distinct understanding that the study of potato diseases should 

 be one of its main lines of endeavor and this policy has been 

 consistently followed. 



A few years ago a representative of the United States De- 

 partment of Agriculture was sent to Maine, who established 

 an independent summer laboratory at Houlton. This was in 

 order to study, as we understood, certain phases of a problem 

 connected with late blight which, on account of peculiar local 

 conditions, could be carried on here to better advantage than 

 in any other part of the country. The Station was not working 

 on, and was not planning to concern itself with, this particular 

 problem. The next season their laboratory was moved to Cari- 

 bou and the work was considerably extended by the addition of 

 other members to the stafT. This was partly the result of the 

 discovery of powdery scab in the state, and on account of its 

 apparent importance as a national problem. 



The next season the work was moved to Presque Isle. 

 Through the cooperation of a number of potato growers and 

 other business men at Presque Isle, a fine laboratory Ixiilding 

 was erected and was thoroughly equipped by the Government. 

 From relatively small beginnings in a limited field, the work 

 was increased in three years' time so that it appeared to be 

 concerned with all phases of potato diseases as they occur in 

 Maine, including those with which the Station was concerned, 

 and upon which it had been working for years. 



Strictly speaking, it is generally understood that in matters 

 of this kind the federal government will concern itself with 

 questions of national importance, while the Stations are sup- 

 posed to confine their endeavors to problems which are more 

 strictly of a local nature. On account of Maine's peculiar rela- 



