28 ANNUAL REPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



still more energetic inquiry. It has been estimated that in years when 

 cereal rusts are epidemic the losses from them alone amount at least 

 to $180,000,000. No effective remedies have yet been found for these 

 diseases. It seems probable, however, that through the development 

 of suitable resistant varieties their eventual control in large part can 

 be effected. 



Distinct headway has been made in the study of diseases of fruits 

 and vegetables. Many of them have proved amenable to spray con- 

 trol, especially when combined with rational field practice to prevent 

 infection. 



CITBTJS CANKER. 



Cooperative arrangements have been made with State officials of 

 Florida, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and South 

 Carolina to insure the thorough inspection of nurseries and citrus 

 groves for the purpose of promptly and completely eradicating 

 citrus canker. This is an undertaking of great magnitude because 

 of the extreme infectiousness of the disease and the wide area 

 throughout which it has been disseminated. No final statement as 

 to the outcome can be expected within a period of at least two 

 years. The campaign, however, is progressing very satisfactorily 

 in the commercially important orange and grapefruit regions of 

 Florida. Supplemental protective measures, such as formalin treat- 

 ments of infected soil and protective spraying of groves exposed 

 to infection, are hastening the work of eradication materially. Even 

 in the few places where citrus-canker outbreaks have occurred in 

 commercial districts and in old trees, the disease can be eradicated 

 promptly and effectively. Although thorough inspection of citrus 

 plantings will be necessary, at least throughout the coming fiscal 

 year, it is believed that Florida now is so nearly free of the dis- 

 ease as to render its eradication from that State practically cer- 

 tain. In Texas, Louisiana, Alabama, and Mississippi the work 

 has been more difficult from the beginning because of the more scat- 

 tered plantings and the relatively smaller interests involved. Fur- 

 thermore, in all these States the unusually severe tropical storms of 

 the present year have caused unexpectedly wide distribution of the 

 disease in some areas. Even in these States, however, the progress 

 of the work is encouraging, and if no further unusual drawbacks 

 are encountered the disease will be effectively checked. 



