Rfsfarch on Plant Tumors 513 



the Department at \\'ashini;ton, had published "" in 1919 on " Tiie 

 Mosaic Disease of Sugar Cane and Other Grasses." In 1917 he, 

 while of the department of plant pathology of Cornell University, 

 had submitted to Smith his description of l^usar'mm cubense Smith, 

 cause of the banana blight in Puerto Rico. He gave a short account 

 of his " experiments proving [its] pathogenicity " and its seeming 

 identity with " the ' Panama disease ' of other tropical American 

 countries." Smith had studied it from Cuban material."' At the 

 Washington greenhouses, Brandes also proved that mosaic disease 

 of sugar cane is transmitted by the corn aphis, Aphis Tuaidis, and 

 his work was followed by field studies in Puerto Rico."' 



On October 9, 1918, J. B. Rorer, mycologist and secretary of 

 the Boa-rd of Agriculture, Port-of-Spain, Trinidad, wrote Smith 

 that he was returning to Ecuador "perhaps for good. At any 

 rate," he said, " I am going for a year and if things work out all 

 right I will probably stay on. The cacao association wants me to 

 start a station for the study of cacao diseases following the recom- 

 mendations I made to them in my report last year." In November 

 1918 ^^ J. R. Johnston, also formerly of Smith's laboratory and 

 now with the United Fruit Company in charge of their work in 

 the study of tropical plant diseases, reviewed Rorer's report to 

 commend its subject matter and " emphasize the necessity for more 

 pioneer work in plant pathology and economic entomology in trop- 

 ical American countries." Sometime, a month or so later, was made 

 known Rorer's acceptance of a position as mycologist of the 

 Association de Agricultores del Ecuador at Guayaquil. '^^ Johnston 

 in 1916 had published an article in Phytopathology ^^^ on " Phyto- 

 pathological Work in the Tropics," in which was outlined the 

 efforts being made by several inadequately equipped but func- 

 tioning laboratories: two in Puerto Rico and one each in Surinam, 

 Demerara, Trinidad, Barbados, and Jamaica. A station in Mexico 

 was also in existence but practically inactive. A privately main- 

 tained station had been located in Costa Rica. Johnston's article 

 was sent from the Estacion Experimental Agronomica Santiago 

 de las Vegas, Cuba. Despite the difficulties of pioneering work, 



•"Bulletin 829, U. S. Dur. of Plant Industry, professional paper, Oct. 29, 1919. 

 " Letter, Brandes to Smith, Feb. 6; see also. Phytopathology 9(9) : 339-389, Sept. 



1919. 



"-Phytopathology 13(1): 24 ff., Jan. 1923. '^ Idem, 9(1): 48, Jan. 1919. 

 "ndem, 8(11): 550. "6(5): 381 flF., Oct. 1916. 



