On Plant Pathology and Bactlriolocy 125 



Trclcase in Wisconsin had also studied the causes of grape 

 rot.'"' More than studying parasitic fungi which cause diseases in 

 phuits, in 1884 his thesis for the doctorate at Harvard under 

 Farlow had been entitled " Observations on Several Zooglasa and 

 Related Forms" and involved a cultural and systematic study of 

 some bacterial forms on potato.''^ In 1888 he spent a summer in 

 study at Koch's laboratory in Berlin and obtained cultures and 

 apparatus for a class on bacteria planned to be given at the Shaw 

 School of Botany at St< Louis that autumn. We do not know that 

 the course materialized but we do know that, during the early 

 years of the school, Trelease held special classes and that this was 

 planned for young medical doctors and included within its scope 

 " the botany of the subject." "^ 



Be that as it may, the classical instruction of DeBary and Farlow 

 was reaching botanical laboratories of middle west United States 

 and interest in plant disease study was being stimulated among 

 both scientists and the public. Spalding lectured before the 

 Washtenaw Pomological Society on "The Potato Rot,""" and 

 v.hen this was published Smith added comments based on their 

 microscopic and statistical analyses. 



Nearly all of Spalding's life had been associated with a farm, 

 and agriculture. Although he was born at East Bloomfield, On- 

 tario County, New York, his parents, when he was an infant, had 

 moved to Gorham in the same county, and there for fifteen years 

 his father owned and worked a farm. Volney attended a district 

 school and learned the rudiments of reading, writing, spelling, 

 arithmetic, grammar, and geography, and some "higher" learning 

 in history and algebra. In 1864, his father took his family west 

 and settled on a farm " within easy ear-shot " ^~° of the Ann Arbor 

 high school and university bells. Greek, Latin, Mathematics, some 

 study of English and modern languages, and sciences, were taught 

 young Spalding while in high school. Delayed from completing 



"® F. L. Scribner, Rep't of Comm'er of Agric. for 1885, op. cit., 84, citing Trans. 

 Wise. State Hort. Soc. 15: 196. 



"^ t/;//Y'. of Wisconsin Studies. Science #2: 10. 



"'Letters, Trelease to Farlow, March 1, 17, August 23, 1888; December 7, 1893. 

 Found at the Farlow Reference Library of Harvard Univ. 



"» Michigan Farmer, March 9, 1886. 



^-° Taken from notes dictated by Spalding and transcribed by Mrs. Effie South- 

 worth Spalding January 1, 1918, and sent by Mrs. Spalding to Smith April 9, 1920, 



