Department of Plant Pathology. Ixxi 



(luring the summer instead of the winter. It should l)e pointed 

 out that much of the plant-disease work, cannot be properly targht 

 to students from dried or preserved material or from books. In 

 order to do this efifectively it is necessary that we have living 

 j)lants with which to work. These cannot be grown in the crowded, 

 unnatural quarters of the laboratory. 



Anotehr urgent need in the department is money for more equip- 

 ment. With the increased number of problems that are being taken 

 up in co-operation with the growers, it becomes necessary to provide 

 equipment for the men who are to do the investigation. The equip- 

 ment of the lield laboratory costs a minimum of $300. In order 

 properly to conduct the work these field laboratories must be fully 

 equipped with everything necessary to perform the operations ordin- 

 arily done in the laboratory here. This requires the purchase of 

 considerable expensive apparatus. To this also there is to be added 

 the necessity of rather complete equipment for taking and studying" 

 w^eather conditions. The importance of careful weather records 

 has been demonstrated very definitely in connection with our work 

 on the Black Rot of grapes, and we desire for another season to 

 equip every field laboratory with the necesary instruments for 

 taking these observations. A careful consideration of the funds 

 required for properly equipping these field laboratories and adding 

 to the apparatus necessary for the teaching work, indicates that 

 we are now receiving only half the maintenance fund necessary. 

 Room and funds for maintenance are therefore the chief necessities 

 in the Department at present. It is hoped that these may be ar 

 least partially provided in the very near future. It is necessary 

 that they should be provided if the Department is to keep pace 

 with the demands made upon it by the growers of the State. 



H. H. WHETZEL, 

 Assistant Professor of Plant Pathology. 



