24 PROTECTIO^' OF PL,\MTS, 1920-21 



THE PRESENT STATUS OF PLANT PATHOLOGY IN AGRICUL- 

 TURE 



By Professor H. H. Whetzel, Cornell University. 



Mr. President : 



I am not accustomed to this kind of introduction in New York, the state 

 where I have Kved so long, and naturalh^ I appreciate the good things the Chair- 

 man has said and the kind welcome Dr. Harrison has given us. I am sure Corn- 

 ell has very kindly feelings for her Canadian students. We have had a large 

 number of them. A Canadian, Dr. Schurman, who has just recently retired, 

 guided the destinies of the University for a good many years. 



When I promised to come down to talk to 3'ou, I said to nw friend. Prof- 

 essor Dickson, that I would not agree to prepare a paper, so I can only say 

 that you will not get an address, but merely a talk. I have been called upon to 

 prepare so many papers this 3'ear, that I have rebelled and will not write any 

 more. 



My subject naturally interests me. A man ought to be interested in his 

 profession, and not only interested in it, but he should "boost" it. If he is not 

 in that frame of mind, he is in an unfortunate position for the profession. and he 

 is out of place. 



I shall indicate briefly what I believe to be the position of plant pathology 

 at the present time in agriculture, and shall also suggest, if I may, my ideas as 

 to the future of plant pathology in agriculture, because if a man has no vision, 

 he cannot be very much in love with his profession. 



In the first place, 1 should like to touch on the historical side of plant pathol- 

 gy and briefly outline some of the important features as far as they relate to 

 this talk. ]\Iodern plant pathology — I am not going back to the time of the 

 Romans — began approximately in the middle of the 19th Century. American 

 plant pathology began about 1883 — or say 1880. The history of plant pathol- 

 ogy on this continent is, in many waj'S, detached from the history of plant 

 pathology in Europe. To be sure we drew our inspiration and to some extent 

 our general outlook from those who there laid down the first principles, but 

 American plant pathology has been characteristicall}' American. 



American plant pathology may be divided into two rather distinct periods. 

 From 1883 until 1906 we had very rapid developments in the science along two 

 lines. In the first place when the early plant pathologists began to investigate, 

 they found before them a great variety of diseases. They attacked those near- 

 est at hand and whatever they did yielded new facts, new information, because 



