EXPERIMENT STATION REPORTS. 297 



I wish to thauk you also at this time for your willing cooperation and 

 assistance in all the varied interests of Plant Physiology. 



Very respectfully, 



R. P. HIBBARD, 

 Research Associate in Plant Physiology. 



PLANT PATHOLOGY. 



Dr. E. A. Bessey, East Lansing, Mich. : 



Dear Sir : — At your request I submit a report of the work done during 

 the past fiscal year. The allotment of my time in part to the college and 

 in part to the Experiment Station continued as before. The work for 

 the college is divided into several forms of activity; teaching classes in 

 Plant Pathology, assisting with graduate work and assisting in the ex- 

 tension phase of the department's work. The statistics of the under- 

 graduate and graduate teaching form a part of your departmental re- 

 port. 



The extension work has consisted, in part, of attention to correspond- 

 ence with reference to plant diseases. During the year from 800 to 

 1,000 specimens have been determined. Several popular addresses on 

 ]dant diseases have been given at farmer's institutes. I have also ap- 

 ]>eared on the programs of the annual meetings of the Michigan State 

 Potato Association, Michigan Ginseng Growers Association, Michigan 

 Vegetable Growers Association and the Michigan Horticultural Society. 



In extension work three projects have been framed for cooperative en- 

 deavor with the county men. The titles, present status (July 15, 1917), 

 of these projects are as follows: 



I — The Control of Grain Smuts. 

 Object : 



1. To bring the treatment of seed oats and seed wheat into more 



general use, 



2. To secure accurate data on a statewide scale of the actual 



results of the extension work on this project. 



This project has met with enthusiastic cooperation from 

 the county men. In many cases it merely supplemented work 

 already being conducted in the various counties. The work 

 done by the department consisted in providing "copy" for ex- 

 tension circulars, form letters, etc. Lack of funds prevented 

 any publication of circulars or other matter. However, the 

 county men by means of lectures and by personal letters to 

 the farmers in their respective counties have secured wide 

 spread utilization of the formaldehyde control measures. As 

 a supi)lement to this rei)ort the oat smut circular which was 

 mimeographed ;ind sent to county men is published. At pres- 

 ent the data from druggists are being obtained to determine 

 the sales of formaldehyde in the various counties. Begin- 

 ning about August 15th the campaign on wheat stinking 

 smut will be started. 



