REPORT OF THE BOTANIST. 



To the Director of the Cornell University Agriculttiral Experi- 

 ment Station : 



Sir. — I herewith present the annual report of the Botanical 

 Division for the past year, including an outline of the work in 

 progress by myself and by Dr. B. M. Duggar, whose report in full 

 is appended. 



During the few years that Dr. Duggar has been connected wath 

 the Botanical Division, in order to economize the work I have left 

 the investigation of plant diseases caused by the more minute forms 

 of the fungi to him, while I have given my attention largely to the 

 investigation of the diseases of timber, shade and fruit trees, caused 

 by the larger fungi like the nmshrooms and their allies ; and to a 

 study of the fleshy fungi for the purpose of accumulating informa- 

 tion as to the edible and poisonous kinds which grow in the fields 

 and woods. 



Bulletin 193, recently issued, gives in detail the results of some 

 of my studies on the wound parasites of trees. Four species are 

 treated of, Pobjporus horealis on coniferous trees, Polyporus sul- 

 jplixireus on oaks and other deciduous trees, Polyporus jnnicola on 

 conifers, and Trametes abietis on spruces. The observations have 

 extended over a period of several years and trees have been exam- 

 ined which give quite a complete history of the entrance of the 

 fungus into the tree, the spread of the mycelium and disorganiza- 

 tion of the heart wood, and, finally, the advance of the mycelium 

 from the heart wood outward into the livino; combium which may 

 result in the deatli of the tree. 



After the tree is once infected there is no remedy. Possibly the 

 destruction of the fruit bodies of the fundus would lessen the 

 chances of the infection of healthy trees when they become wounded. 

 But for the protection of fruit trees, shade or timber trees, sanitary 

 measures must be resorted to to prevent wounds of such a charac- 

 ter that invite the entrance of the fungus mycelium. Judicious 



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