REPORT OF THE CHIEF OF THE BUREAU OF PLANT 



INDUSTRY. 



United States Department of Agriculture, 



Bureau of Plant Industry, 

 Washington, D. C, October 13, 1916. 



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, 

 1916. 



Respectfully, Win. 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 

 have chiefly to do with crop production and utilization, including the 

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

 gation 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. 



Effectively to cope with problems so diverse in character and loca- 

 tion, a flexible form of organization has been developed, which is 

 capable of prompt readjustment to meet the changing requirements 

 of the work. 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 Karl F. Kellerman, Assistant 



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, Assistant 



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. 



Drug-Plant and Poisonous-Plant 



Investigations W. W. Stockberger, Physiologist in Charge. 



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