REPORT OF THE CHIEF OF THE BUREAU OF PLANT 



INDUSTRY. 



United States Department of Agriculture, 



Bureau of Plant Industry, 



Washington, D. C, October 13, 1917. 

 Sir : I have the honor to submit herewith a report of the work of 

 the Bureau of Plant Industry for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1917. 

 Respectfully, 



Wm. a. Taylor, 



Chief of Bureau. 

 Hon. D. F. Houston, 



Secretary of Agriculture. 



The Bureau of Plant Industry includes in its field a wide range 

 of activities having to do with the solution of plant problems. These 

 relate especially to crop production and utilization, including the 

 improvement of plants by breeding and cultural methods, the inves- 

 tigation and development of methods of control of destructive 

 diseases of plants, the introduction and acclimatization of crops from 

 other parts of the world, the determination of crop relationships, 

 both agronomic and economic, and the meeting of agricultural emer- 

 gencies as they arise from time to time in widely separated regions 

 of the country. 



Throughout the year special attention has been devoted to increas- 

 ing the staple food and feed crops both through the activities of 

 several of the large divisions of the bureau and also in cooperation 

 with other Federal and State agencies. 



The organization during the year has been as follows: 



Laboratory of Plant Pathology Erwin F. Smith, Pathologist in Charge. 



Pathological Collections Flora W. Patterson, Mycologist in Charge. 



Fruit-Disease Investigations ]M. B. Waite. Pathologist in Charge. 



Investigations in Forest Pathology__Haven Metcalf, Pathologist in Charge. 



Citrus-Canker Eradication Directed by Knrl F. Kellerman, Associate 



Chief of Bureau. 



Cotton and Truck Disease Investi- 

 gations W. A. Orton, Pathologist in Charge. 



Crop Physiology and Breeding In- 

 vestigations W. T. Swingle, Physiologist in Charge. 



Soil-Bacteriology and Plant-Nutri- 

 tion Investigations Directed by Karl F. Kellerman. Associate 



Chief of Bureau. 



Soil-Fertility Investigations Oswald Schreiner, Biochemist in Charge. 



Acclimatization and Adaptation of 



Crop Plants; Cotton Breeding O. F. Cook, Bionomist in Charge. 



Fiber-Plant Investigations L. H. Dewey, Botanist in Charge. 



Drug-Plant and Poisonous-Plant 



Investigations W. W. Stockberger, Physiologist in Charge. 



Physiological and Fermentation 



Investigations R. H. True, Physiologist in Charge. 



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