420 MYCOLOGY IN RELATION TO PLANT PATHOLOGY 



4. Outbreaks of downy mildew on grapes in Europe, espe- 

 cially in the vineyards of France and Italy. The causal fungus, 

 Plamwpora viticola, indigenous in the United States, had been in- 

 troduced into Europe in 1878. In order to prevent pilfering of his 

 grapes, a grower sprinkled his vines with a mixture of lime and 

 copper sulphate. Millardet noted that the grapes so treated re- 

 mained free from downy mildew, and as an eventual result the 

 world's best-known fungicide, Bordeaux mixture, was developed. 



5. The establishment of the Office of Vegetable Pathology in 

 the United States Department of Agriculture and the organization 

 of the state agricultural experiment stations under the Hatch act, 

 both in 1887. Provision was thus made for the first time for the 

 initiation of organized research on diseases of crop plants. In 

 the beginning only meager financial support was forthcoming 

 for this work, but the appropriation has increased throughout the 

 years in proportion to needs and to growing appreciation of the 

 importance of such studies. 



6. The publication of Saccardo's Sylloge Fimgorinn, a com- 

 pendium containing descriptions of all known species of fungi. 

 This monumental work, the first volume of which appeared in 

 1882, now contains twenty-five volumes. It is truly a requisite 

 for the mycologist and phvtopathologist. 



7. The introduction of two species of alien fungi, Endothia 

 parasitica, causing chestnut blight, and Cronartium ribicola, caus- 

 ing blister rust of five-needle pines. Endothia parasitica was first 

 noted in the United States in 1904 and Cronartium ribicola in 

 1906. These two organisms became widely dispersed with rapid- 

 ity, and their ravages stimulated the general public to an apprecia- 

 tion of the destructiveness of plant diseases and to an interest in 

 problems of disease prevention and control. 



8. The establishment of the Federal Plant Quarantine Law in 

 1912. The enactment of this law was the outgrowth of experi- 

 ences with chestnut blight and with blister rust of white pines. 

 Moreover it was the first legalized effort by a nation to exclude 

 foreign pests and plant diseases. 



9. The organization of departments of plant pathology at 

 Cornell University in 1907 and at the University of Wisconsin in 

 1909 for the training of specialists in research and the teaching of 

 plant pathology. The emphasis on instruction in so-called plant 



