362 Chief of a Laboratory of Plant Pathology 



At the next meeting of the Society for Plant Morphology and 

 Physiology, Smith reported that Cobb had " pointed out a way to 

 avoid the gumming of sugar cane . . . viz., by the selection of 

 healthy cuttings. This practice [had] greatly reduced the amount 

 of gummed cane in New South Wales."'*' Smith's study, " Ur- 

 sache der Cobb'schen Krankheit des Zuckerrohrs," ** not published 

 until 1904, noticed the prior work of the Australian Greig Smith 

 and Cobb, verified and extended Cobb's conclusions, and for 

 years Went and he exchanged letters on the subject. His study 

 was a reason why Went visited him at Washington, and, since 

 later he wrote on the disease in his three volume monograph, 

 it and other studies were probably among the reasons why Smith 

 in 1906 arranged to visit Went in the Netherlands. 



The establishment of research centers of plant pathology in 

 tropical countries was an advance of first magnitude. On July 15, 

 1901, Paul C. Freer, of the United States Philippines Commission 

 and recently appointed superintendent of laboratories, asked Smith 

 to recommend some properly qualified, " bright and energetic 

 young man," capable of performing research in plant pathology. 

 Buildings were being planned, equipment provided, and a staff 

 selected, for laboratories being created in the Islands to promote 

 research and economic progress in public health, forestry, agri- 

 culture, mining, and customs. " I have read with interest your 

 article in regard to bacterial diseases of plants," Freer wrote Smith, 

 " and I am sure that you can help me better than any one else. . . . 

 As certain plant diseases, especially one of the coffee plants, are 

 prevalent in the Islands, one of the first things to undertake is to 

 find some means, if possible, of combatting these conditions." 



The year 1901 was significant in Smith's life for a still more 

 important reason. On July 1, in accordance with the authority 

 and directives of a Congressional enactment, the United States 

 Bureau of Plant Industry, as one of four Bureaus of the Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture, was organized to bring together under one 

 unit the allied work of plant physiology and plant pathology, 

 botany, pomology, grass and forage plants, and experimental 

 gardens and grounds. By executive order and Congressional 

 approval the Arlington experimental farm, investigations in the 



*^ Plant pathology: a retrospect and prospect, op. cit., 608-609. 

 '^ Centralblatt f. Bakt. etc., II, 13(22/23) : 729-736, 1904. 



