130 Early Work in North America 



Some stations occupied laboratory rooms of the college buildings; 

 some, home dwellings made over for their purposes. Some pos- 

 sessed barn, office, greenhouse, and storage facilities. Nearly all 

 had a chemist and assistants, but only four — Massachusetts, New 

 York, Ohio, and Wisconsin — had botanists as such, unless the 

 director or other official was botanically trained. The botanist at 

 Houghton Farms was an official. Station bulletins, annual reports, 

 and pamphlets were recognized occasionally for the quality of 

 their research. Agriculture, nevertheless, was still largely a teach- 

 ing subject.^-* Instruction, and systematic experimental investiga- 

 tions, in agriculture, were also under way at Cornell University, at 

 the agricultural colleges of Kansas, Iowa, Michigan, and Pennsyl- 

 vania, at the universities of Tennessee at Knoxville, of Missouri 

 at Columbia, of South Carolina at Columbia, of Georgia at Athens, 

 and of California at Berkeley. 



Smith, however, did not apply to any other university during 

 the summer of 1886. He was living at Lansing in August when 

 Scribner wrote: 



I should like to see your notes and drawings on the " Phoma " [Black 

 rot of grape], and should you have any notes or observations relative to the 

 fungus more than what I have made, or, if your observations may serve to 

 verify mine, I should be very glad to state the fact in a paper I am about 

 to publish on this subject. I saw Prof. Spaulding's letter to you and con- 

 sequently know that he touched upon the matter relative to your coming 

 to Washington to assist in the investigation of the fungus diseases of 

 plants under my direction. As the finances of this Section now stand, I 

 would not at present like to recommend the engagement of anyone for 

 the entire year, but I would be glad to secure your assistance for, say, 

 six months. The disease you mention, the plutn rot, should be followed 

 up and all possible knowledge gained respecting it. I want some one to 

 go to work on Entomosporium maculatum [Pear leaf blight] and Fusi- 

 dad'ium dendviticum [Apple scab] — fungi which cause the cracking of 

 the pear and apple. I haven't the time to give these the personal attention 

 required for their thorough investigation. 



Immediately he procured Commissioner Colman's signature to 

 a letter which authorized Smith's employment for six months at 

 $1,000 a year; and by September 3 the offer was accepted and 

 Smith directed to report for duty. 



^^* Agricultural Experiment Stations — Condensed Facts, 1885, op. cit.\ A. C. 

 True, Origin and development of Agric. Exp't Sta's in the U. S., op. at., 547-553. 



