200 Investigations in Plant Pathology 



scriptive work of downy mildew of lima beans, in 1890-1891 his 

 discovery and description of the cause of potato scab/^ and, even 

 more, his splendid work on the smut of onions, first written up by 

 him in the station's report for 1889 and of which Fairchild in his 

 first " Index to North American Mycological Literature " said,^° 

 " A most admirable treatment of the disease in which the botanical 

 history and origin as well as the practical points of inquiry are 

 well worked out." Farlow had commenced the earliest researches 

 in America on a number of plant diseases which Thaxter further 

 studied. William Codman Sturgis, also the holder of three degrees 

 from Harvard University, who became an assistant in the Harvard 

 Cryptogamic Laboratory during 1888-1889 and served as vegetable 

 pathologist of the Connecticut station from 1891 until 1901, 

 collaborated with Thaxter in studymg onion smut, and of their 

 work. Smith said: " 



Thaxter and Sturgis demonstrated that onion smut was only communic- 

 able during the seedling stage of growth and that, if plants were grown for 

 a few weeks in healthy soil, they might be transplanted to fields badly 

 infested with this smut without danger of infection. 



Thaxter's work on onion smut was notable for another reason. 

 At that time the disease was destroying nearly fifty per cent of 

 the crop in Connecticut. Director J. G. Horsfall of the Connecticut 

 experiment station wrote in 1941 of Thaxter's work: " Deciding 

 that the organism was soil-borne he designed a chemical treatment 

 in which he applied sulfur in the row with the seed and obtained 

 striking reduction in disease. This was a pioneer test of soil 

 treatment." 



Henry Luke BoUey, a graduate and advanced student in science 

 under Arthur at Purdue University, also studied the potato scab 

 disease. In 1890 he joined the faculty of North Dakota Agricul- 

 tural College at Fargo as professor of botany and zoology, and 

 was also botanist and plant pathologist of the government experi- 

 ment station located there. G. H. Coons, in an article, " Seed 



*® Fifty years of pathology, op. cit., 2L As to potato scab, see discussion 

 hereafter. 



^^ jour. Mycology 6 (1): 44, Mar. 1890. Notice also the references to Phytoph- 

 thora phaseolj, Thaxter, downy mildew of lima beans, and other onion diseases. 



" Plant pathology: a retrospect and prospect, op. cit., 608, 1902. 



