356 Chief of a Laboratory of Plant Pathology 



" drifting out of bacteriological work," although still teaching the 

 subject. October and November 1899, Hermann von Schrenk at 

 St. Louis requested of Smith that cultures of pathogenic bacteria 

 and fungi be sent to him. At his Mississippi Valley laboratory of 

 the Department he had " such a fine opportunity for making green- 

 house experiments " that he wanted some of his men to " work out 

 the history of some of the pathogenic bacteria " and study things 

 at first hand wherever possible. He was hoping to " get into the 

 apple orchards this week to work on the root fungus." 



In May 1899, Lilian Wheeler, daughter of C. F. Wheeler, who 

 now was assistant professor of botany and forestry at Michigan 

 Agricultural College, applied, at Smith's suggestion, to Secretary 

 of Agriculture James Wilson for a position in Smith's laboratory. 

 Effie A. Southworth some years before had left the Department, 

 for a while taught at Barnard College until becoming the second 

 wife of the M^dower V. M. Spalding, and in November, 1898, 

 Spalding exuberantly had written from San Bernardino where, 

 after some time spent in New Mexico, they had gone to enjoy 

 California's " paradise of palms and olives, oranges and fig trees 

 . . . multitudes of roses in full bloom . . . long avenues of 

 eucalyptus and pepper trees and yards full of green shrubs and 

 trees most of which were new to " them. To have an assistant 

 as well as many improved facilities in the laboratory heartened 

 Smith. 



In 1900 Spencer Ambrose Beach, acting for the American Asso- 

 ciation of Agricultural Colleges and Experiment Station, invited 

 Smith to present " a paper on the progress and present status of 

 our knowledge of bacterial plant diseases. At this, the last meeting 

 of the Association in the nineteenth century," Beach said, " it 

 seems fitting to set a stake showing the progress of investigations 

 along certain lines during the closing part of the century. When 

 this subject of bacterial plant diseases came up it was at once 

 decided that Dr. Smith was the man to present the topic. No 

 one can do it so well. ..." 



Smith already had proved his fitness to lecture on this subject. 

 During the previous July, 1899, he had delivered at the Marine 

 Biological Laboratory of Woods Hole the course of lectures 

 arranged for the year before. July 12 he wrote to Galloway: " My 

 lectures did not begin until Monday. Today I give the third. 



