530 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



.supposed. TIh' niinilx'r of pliints on Cape l"o(l is said to )>v much 

 move abunclant than oti the dunes of Lake Michioan. while about 75 

 per cent of the species were common to each region. 



In this connection mention may })e made of a paper, not altogether 

 botanical, by A. S. Hitchcock on the work done in the fixation of sand 

 cbuH^s in Hlurope. The matter Avas presented liefore the Society for 

 the Promotion of Agricultural Science, and was })ased on a recent per- 

 sonal examination. The countries visited were Holland, Denmark, 

 Prussia, and France. In some places work along this line has been 

 carried on for 100 years, but the more successful methods have l)een 

 employed only during the last 30 years. The objects sought are the 

 protection of the land ])ack of the sand and the utilization of the sand 

 itself. Various methods, such as the use of some dead cover, stakes, 

 and artificial dunes, have l)een employed for holding the sand in place 

 until the desirable forest covering can be secured. Close to the sea a 

 forest covering can not be esta])lished and the growth of sand grass or 

 beach grass is encouraged. It was stated that in the United States 

 efi'orts along this line are being made only on Cape Cod and to a less 

 extent near San Francisco. W. Saunders descri])ed briefly the work 

 being carried on at Sable Island, in which favorable results have been 

 obtained in the introduction of l*lnu.s inarittnia. 



Several papers on plant diseases of various kinds and the organisms 

 causing them were presented before the botanical or other bodies. 



W. A. Kellerman discussed various suggestions and experiments 

 regarding uredinous infection. The author worked with 17 forms of 

 rusts, making about 80 experiments. A number of new a?cidial forms 

 have been discovered and were mentioned. The author described a 

 simple cheap cover, consisting of a frame of wire netting covered with 

 cheese cloth, which is well adapted to experimental purposes until 

 transpiration l)ecomes too great. At this time a galvanized-iron frame 

 carrying glass sides and top is to be substituted. The speaker urged 

 extreme care in avoiding accidental infections. In working out of 

 season in the greenhouse he recommended that both host plant and 

 fungus should be similarly treated as to heat, moisture, etc., as pre- 

 liminary to infection experiments. 



Following this paper J. C. Arthur gave an account of his Cultures 

 of Uredinete in liHi2. These were mostly made on hetercecious rusts 

 of grasses and sedges. Three hundred and fourteen cultures were 

 made, of which 23 collections failed to give anv termination. More 

 than 100 hosts were used, and the successes and failures were enumer- 

 ated. The necessity of field investigations as a preliminary to infec- 

 tion experiments was pointed out, and it was suggested that when a rust 

 is found in the field the collector should carefully examine and report 

 upon all the plants growing within a radius of about 10 feet of the host 

 carrying the rust, as this might furnish hints as to the possible alter- 

 nate hosts of the species. 



