58 ANNUAL REPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



Cooperative demonstration work on the control of truck-crop 

 diseases by proper spraying methods is a new form of work inaugu- 

 rated to bring the latest results along these lines to the attention of 

 growers. An important feature of this work is the development of 

 special machinery and technique to meet the demands of the varying 

 conditions of culture and climate in different sections. 



PATHOLOGICAL INSPECTION WORK. 



The necessity of pathological inspection of all foreign importa- 

 tions has long been recognized, and in the early years the mycologist 

 was called upon at irregular intervals, i. e., whenever importations 

 were received by the department, to make examinations. As the 

 OflSce of Foreign Seed and Plant Introduction developed and ex- 

 tended its geographical range, inspection of the department's plant 

 imports has been definitely systematized by means of regular exami- 

 nations, and printed health certificates or written reports for treat- 

 ment or quarantine are furnished as occasion requires. The same 

 methods are followed in connection with the congressional seed dis- 

 tribution, crop physiology and breeding investigations, and the Office 

 of Gardens and Grounds. Card indexes are maintained for a com- 

 plete file of observations and results. Advance information is fur- 

 nished agricultural explorers, that they may be aware of diseases 

 indigenous to certain countries or geographically restricted, thus 

 enabling them to avoid unnecessary expense in making collections 

 which would have to be condemned at Washington. 



NEED FOR TRAINED PLANT PATHOLOGISTS. 



The growing need for trained plant pathologists to take up numer- 

 ous problems which are now being presented to this department for 

 solution is extremely urgent. While the universities and colleges 

 appear to be doing what they can, it happens usually in our work that, 

 men fresh from college do not have the requisite outlook or the 

 necessary training to obtain practical results in this field. Usually 

 we have to give them several years of additional training in order to 

 make them most serviceable to the advancement of agriculture in 

 these lines. Every year requests come to us from the experiment 

 stations and similar institutions in the United States to name persons 

 well qualified for appointment to positions involving plant patholog- 

 ical research in these various institutions, and, unfortunately, in a 

 very considerable number of cases we have to say that, glad as we 

 would be to recommend persons, there are none in sight with the nec- 

 essary training. This lack of a sufficient number of trained patholo- 

 gists works to the serious disadvantage of agriculture in this country. 

 The department would be glad to have in training an additional num- 

 ber of young men for such positions. 



