INDIANA IIORTICULTUEAT. SOCIETY. 385 



ties for acquiring knowledge along the lines of their vocation by the 

 holding of P'arniers' Institutes in every county in the State, to which it 

 agrees, when requested, to send one or more of the members of its faculty. 

 The completion of Fowler Hall, which is a magnificent building, and the 

 installation of a large and efficient heating plant are the two prominent 

 improvements of the past year. This plant fnrnished ample heat for the 

 many buildings on the campus. 



Respectfully submitted, 



SYLVESTER JOHNSON. 



President Stevens: Are there any questions? If not, we will pass on 

 to the next topic. 



Prof. Troop: There is one thing that I would Ifke to speak about. It 

 is not in connection with the report submitted by Sylvester Johnson, Ijnt 

 it is on the subject of root rot and connected with Burton's report. This 

 is a serious matter in southern Indiana, as well as in southern Illinois. 

 A couple of weeks ago I attended at St. Louis, a meeting of the American 

 Api)le Growers' Congress. This matter was taken up and discussed by 

 Mr. Waters, of Washington. He has given this matter a great deal of 

 attention, and he spoke of a number of fungi that had been discovered on 

 trees that were infested with root rot, and yet, he was not able to say 

 whether any one of them was responsible for the disease. He has proba- 

 bly given that subject more attention than any other man in the United 

 States, and yet, after he had gone through with his paper, and given a 

 long talk on the subject, I don't think anyone knew any more about root 

 rot than when he commenced, and I don't think he did. The fact is the 

 disease, as he stated it, is underground, and it is very hard to get at— is 

 very difficult to get at so as to trace it out from beginning to end. For 

 this reason, these different fungi that are found on the trees, on the X'oots 

 of the trees that have the disease, may simply be a result rather than a 

 cause, so that as yet, we may say briefly, we know very little about it. 

 We do not know the cause or the remedy for root rot. 



President Stevens: Do you say this disease is confined mostly to the 

 southern part of the States? 



Prof. Troop: Not entirely, because eastern orchards are affected with 

 it to some extent, but it is worse in southern Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, 

 and that section of the countrj-. 



Mr. Stout: Is it confined to apple trees? 



Prof. Troop: So far as I now it is confined to apple trees. 



Mr. Ratliff: I should like to know if this root rot is causing the death 

 of the trees just above the ground, or the bark breaking loose and dying 

 just above the ground? 



25-Agr|. 



