30 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OP AGRICULTURE. 



certain remedies believed to be of value in combating the grape mil- 

 dew and rot. The preparation of the report here referred to is now 

 engaging the attention of the Mycologist. 



In accordance with my recommendations to committees of Con- 

 gress, a small appropriation was granted the Department for enlarg- 

 ing the scope of this investigation. This has enabled me to place the 

 work in the immediate and full charge of a special agent, to procure 

 such assistance as was imperatively necessary and to infuse vigor 

 into the work. 



A consideration of the above facts will satisfy the most casual ob- 

 server that the field for labor is a large one and the difficulties con- 

 nected with the work of investigation necessarily render it slow of 

 results, but the great practical value of these results when attained 

 will, I am sure, more than warrant the labor spent upon them. If, 

 for example, through these investigations we learn how to effectually 

 prevent the leaf rust of the cotton plant or the yellows of the peach, 

 the value of such a result would be so much out of proportion to the 

 aggregate of the entire annual appropriation made to the Depart- 

 ment, that the latter would sink into insignificance. 



I have submitted an estimate for the thorough prosecution of this 

 labor, and I trust that the matter will receive its due consideration 

 at the hands of Congress. That the agricultural public is interested 

 in the work is amply attested by correspondence already at hand, 

 and that it commends itself to the scientific thought of the countrj- 

 is proven by the following resolutions, which I beg leave to present. 



At the meeting of the American Pomological Society at Grand 

 Rapids, Michigan, it was unanimously resolved — 



That this society heartily comijaends the action of Commissioner Cohnan, of the 

 United States Department of Agriculture, in the appointment of a person to inves- 

 tigate the diseases of plants, and desires to assure him of continued support in his 

 effort to develop this new line of work in the Department. 



At the meeting of the Western New York Horticultural Society 

 it was resolved — 



That the Western New York Horticultural Society, believing that one of the 

 pressing needs of tlie horticulturist is more reliable and complete information re- 

 garding the hosts of microscopic foes, especially parasitic fungi, which beset our 

 cultivated plants, and which annually entail a loss to the country of many millions 

 of dollars, desires to give to the Commissioner of Agriculture its hearty assurance 

 of support in his efforts to build up a section of mycology which shall be suitably 

 equipped for the difficult investigations that this subject demands. 



The following was received from the Botanical Club of the Amer- 

 ican Association for the Advancement of Science : 

 The honorable CoaiMissiONER of Agriculture : 



The members of the Botanical Club of the American Association for the Ad- 

 vancement of Science, recognizing the importance of the movement so happily in- 

 augurated by you whereby provision has been made for the investigation of plant 

 diseases, would hereby assure you of their hearty support in all your efforts to pro- 

 cure the necessary means for carrying on the work proposed. 



