Department of Botany xxxv 



BOTANY 



K. M. Wiegand, Professor of Botany 



Teaching. — The Department of Botany has for some years devoted 

 special attention to the acquirement of teaching materials. During the 

 current year the departmental herbariiim has made substantial growth. 

 The accessions include, among numerous smaller collections, a set of 

 Newfoundland plants collected by Messrs. Fernald and Wiegand in 

 1910-11 and donated by the Gray Herbarium (2400 sheets); a set of 

 northern New York State plants collected by Mrs. Orra P. Phelps, received 

 from the Gray Herbarium in exchange (1450 sheets); a set of plants 

 from Wellesley, Massachusetts, collected by Professor Wiegand and 

 donated by Wellesley College (400 sheets) ; a set of rare plants sent out 

 by the Gray Herbarium (200 sheets); plants collected in 191 7 in New 

 Jersey, on Staten Island, and on Long Island, by a member of the depart- 

 mental staff, A. Gershoy (1000 sheets); and local specimens collected 

 about Ithaca by members of the staff in 1917 (1800 sheets) — making 

 a total of more than 7000 sheets added to the herbarium during the year. 



Heretofore the introductory course in botany, course i, has been an 

 alternate requirement with Zoology i, in the sophomore year. By action 

 of the faculty it was this year made a requirement for all students and 

 placed in the freshman year. 



Staff. — The following promotions have been made in the staff of the 

 Department : J. R. Schramm, promoted to Professor; O. F. Curtis, promoted 

 to Assistant Professor. The staff as now organized consists of three 

 professors, three assistant professors, eight instructors, and eight assistants. 



Investigation. — All members of the teaching staff, as well as all major 

 graduate students, are engaged in some research. This work is pro- 

 gressing satisfactorily. Some of it will be ready for publication during 

 the coming year. Thirteen titles are reported from the Laboratory of 

 Plant Physiology, and twenty-one titles from other laboratories of the 

 Department. 



Extension. — The extension work of the Department has been confined, 

 as in the past, to three lines of work as follows: 



1. Correspondence with farmers and others in regard to weed identifi- 

 cation, weed eradication, legiime inoculation, and other matters. There 

 were 193 letters sent out relating to weeds, and 2500 relating to inoculation. 



2. Distribution of cultures containing the organisms for inoculating 

 soil in preparation for legume crops. The number of these sent out 

 was 7500. 



3. Lectures and demonstrations. A lecture on legume inoculation 

 was given, and an exhibit and demonstration was held, during Farmers' 

 Week. 



