EXPERIMENT STATION REPORTS. 293 



pany transferred liiin to that fellowsliip and discontinued the Michigan 

 fellowship for the present. 



In connection witli this work I visited the experimental field and lab- 

 oratory at Big Rapids twice last summer and attended a conference of 

 representatives of parties to the agreement at Pittsburgh in January of 

 this year. 



I had hoped that conditions might be such that I might take up, with 

 some assistance, the broader question of mosaic diseases in general, but 

 under the present adverse financial conditions I have not been able to 

 have funds assigned for this purpose or to so arrange to be relieved of 

 certain of my work as to have more time available to put into the re- 

 search. Yet it is a line of work that in the long run should bring ex- 

 ceedingly valuable results. If the suspected relation of peach yellows 

 and little peach to the mosaic type of disease can be proved we will have 

 taken a long step towards the solution of the elimination of these dis- 

 eases. Indeed, it seems to me rather a reproach upon this institution 

 that these tAvo diseases, among the most serious peach troubles known 

 anywhere, have been left untouched for so many years. 



I wish to call attention again to the great importance of a plant dis- 

 ease survey in Michigan in order that the more serious diseases may be 

 caught in their incipiency and that furthermore the most important 

 problems, i. e., those most in need of solution may be discovered. It is 

 extremely regrettable that the limitations of funds are so great that we 

 cannot get out into the field more, so as to learn by personal observation 

 the practical questions that need to be solved. The County Agents bring 

 many things to our attention but they are very busy along other lines 

 and are not trained plant pathologists and so cannot recognize these 

 troubles until they are very serious. The most serious fault of having 

 the extension work so sharply marked off from the investigational work 

 is that it cuts off many of the points of contact that formerly existed be- 

 tween the investigator and the farmer. I still maintain that the man 

 who can explain a plant disease and its control to a farmer most 

 efficiently is the man who knows the disease first hand, and not a man 

 whose knowledge of it is hazy or at best second or third hand. Further- 

 more, while the investigator is out in the field explaining and demon- 

 strating he is also being given an opportunity, very much needed, to get 

 into contact with methods of actual farm practice which may enable 

 him to work out control methods that are practicable. 



I wish to call special attention to the work that Dr. Hibbard is carry- 

 ing on. For several years he has been engaged on the investigation of 

 the physiological phenomena of absorption of mineral nutrients by 

 plants and of the best balance to be maintained between these nutrients 

 in the solution. Having verified the results obtained by certain investi- 

 gators and discovered certain other points himself he is now taking the 

 next step, that of attempting to apply his knowledge to the study of 

 plants growing in the soil. It seems as if he has devised a method by 

 which it can be predicted with some degree of assurance what types of 

 fertilizers must be used on the soils under investigation. It is unsafe to 

 say that this method will work for all types of soils, for but few have 

 been tried, yet the beginning is very promising. I regret especially that 

 the shortage of funds was such that he has not been able to have a well 

 trained man to assist him in the cultural work which, if the investiga- 

 tions are to be pushed, requires a lot of time in preparing culture solu- 



