424 MYCOLOGY IN RELATION TO PLANT PATHOLOGY 



protein precipitates arising from a reaction between oxalates and 

 calcium. Their results led them to conclude, "The published im- 

 munological reactions in plants are rendered untenable because 

 of lack of homology between the animal and plant reactions, and 

 because of the wide-spread occurrence in plants heretofore used 

 of simple non-protein reactions." Even though the weight of 

 evidence is against the existence of acquired immunity against 

 pathogenic fungi in plants, ample evidence has been accumulated 

 to show that fungi pathogenic to man and animals have antigenic 

 properties. 



PRESENT TRENDS IN MYCOLOGIC AND 

 PHYTOPATHOLOGIC WORK 



Since the turn of the present century marked changes have 

 taken place in the prescribed disciplines for the training of teach- 

 ers and investigators of mycology and plant pathology and in the 

 kinds of research involving plant-pathogenic fungi. It is difficult 

 at this time to determine or to decide whether these changes have 

 always tended in the direction of improvement over previous 

 studies, mainly for the reasons that not enough time has elapsed 

 to appraise them disinterestedly and without bias and to view 

 such matters in perspective. Improvement should have been made 

 because, as must be admitted, present-day students of fungi are 

 better trained for their tasks than were their elders. Additional 

 support for this conclusion is found in the fact that during the 

 first quarter of the present century undue attention was devoted 

 to projects involving "spray schedules" and "spray calendars." 

 This kind of project was not sponsored by so-called plant pathol- 

 ogists and mycologists alone, but also by horticulturists, agron- 



* -I'll 



omists, entomologists, and botanists, all of whom vied with each 



other to acquire direction of such projects. Sprays were all too 

 commonly applied, not at critical times in the development of the 

 pathogen, but on planned and prearranged dates. Indeed, basic 

 knowledge about the pathogens involved was extremely meager, 

 and efforts to gain such know ledge were regarded by some work- 

 ers as a "not practical" expenditure of time. Determination of 

 not only the most effective times to spray but also the proper 

 fungicidal concentrations was sought by empirical methods. 

 Needless to say, a body of contradictory and inexplicable data was 



