30 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Jan., 



the New York and Wisconsin stations relative to the preserva- 

 tion of cheese and the making of cheese. Everything indicates 

 that some very beneficial knowledge will be obtained in these 

 lines. We are carefully investigating that subject. Probably 

 you gentlemen, many of you, are familiar with the results 

 obtained at Storrs up to the present time. 



With regard to foreign shipments of butter T neglected 

 to state that on experimental shipments which have been made 

 to Manchester, England, and various other places, they seem 

 to indicate without question that we can establish a paying 

 market in those localities, and every market of that kind that we 

 can open up, is, of course, of the greatest benefit to every 

 farmer. So much then for this great bureau of animal industry. 



Now the next most important, and probably the greatest 

 producer of wealth is the plant, and we have in connection with 

 the Department the great bureau of plant industry, which is tak- 

 ing up the subject of plants from all sides and studying it in all 

 its phases. One of the most important lines of work of this bu- 

 reau is the treatment of plant diseases. Now if a man is at a 

 loss when his stock becomes sick, why I must say that the ordi- 

 nary man, ordinary individual, be he farmer or other, is more 

 than at a loss when his plants become sick. We are not familiar 

 with plants. We are with animals more or less, and know how 

 to treat many animal complaints, but when our plants become 

 sick then we are absolutely helpless. The pathological practice 

 and treatm.ent of plant diseases practically originated with 

 this Department of Agriculture. I could not begin to tell you 

 all the various diseases which have been studied carefully, and 

 for which treatments have been proposed that are effective. 

 Take, for instance, the peach leaf curl, with which many of you 

 are familiar. This disease at one time caused widespread dam- 

 age. There seemed to be no wa}^ to stop it. We now know, 

 however, that by proper spraying we can control that disease. 

 It is not merely in the discovery of remedies to combat such 

 diseases that beneficial results have been obtained, that is not 

 all. One of the main things comes in carefully studying the 

 life history of the fungus which causes the disease, and finding 

 out when this treatment must be applied to make it effective, 

 and that is what is being done in every case. Take it in the 

 case, for example, of the bitter rot of apples, which is a new 



