No. 6. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 393 



Buckhout, for 1903. It has been tried as a forage plant in some 

 places but apparently without much success, and since it usually is 

 possible to employ larger and better forage plants there does not 

 seem to be much of a luture for it. On more sandy soils where there 

 are no better clovers, there might be a possibility of using it to ad- 

 vantage. Where it is looked upon as a weed it can be controlled 

 by preventing seed development through early and frequent cutting. 

 Clover and grass seeds should be watched carefully as it is through 

 them that such plants as this are distributed. 



Yellow Melilot or Yellow Sweet Clover (Meliltous officinalis) also 

 attracted attention and was sent in several times. It is very similar 

 to the ordinary white form (Mclilotus alba) except in color, but oc- 

 curs more sparingly. There is also considerable question about 

 classing either of these forms as weeds. 



An interesting sample of a tough wiry grass was received through 

 the office of Secretary Critchtield. It was without heads, but by 

 comparison with a similar form on the campus at State College, it 

 was finally determined as Sheep's Fescue, botanically known as 

 Festuca ovina. It belongs to the same genus as Meadow Fescue 

 which is commonly cultivated as a meadow and pasture grass. The 

 Sheep's Fescue is said to be used in some places in this country 

 in pasture mixtures for sterile soils, but from our observations, we 

 would classify it as an undesirable form. It has a curious habit 

 of growing in tufts and dying at the center as it spreads in all di- 

 rections. 



Numerous reports were received of an annual plant, which has 

 been introduced from South America, known as Galinsoga. If it 

 has any other common name I am not familiar with it. It is re- 

 ported as troublesome especially in gardens. The stem grows up 

 to one or two feet and is much branched. The heads are small, 

 about one-quarter inch broad, and have yellow centers with white 

 rays. Every effort should be made to prevent it from going to seed. 

 It has a shallow root and is easily puUed. In cultivated ground 

 it is usually not troublesome as it cannot stand the tillage given the 

 crop. 



From the point of view of plant diseases, the season was marked 

 by one or two epidemics worthy of especial mention. Fire blight, 

 or pear blight, on apples and pears was much more severe than usual. 

 It is present and does some damage every year. The explanation of 

 the unusual development this year is to be sought in the nature 

 of the season. The cool, wet weather prolonged the growing season 

 for the trees and the time during which the blight worked injury 

 was much extended; in fact it was present nearly the whole season, 

 whereas, it is usually checked by the maturing of the woody tissues 

 about mid-season. Fire-blight was bad in the other apple growing 

 states of the East and there is at present a movement looking toward 

 a national conference on the subject to consider methods of control 

 and investigation. 



The potato crop was affected by diseases in a very serious way 

 during the past season. In this connection a brief reference may be 

 made to what is known as the RMzoctonia disease of potatoes. Al- 

 though the fungus causing the disease has been known in the State, 



