76 Annals of Horticulhtre. 



''the appropriation and expenditure of $50,000 alread}^ voted, 

 however, will not have been altogether in vain ; for, besides 

 the accomplished temporary suppression of the pest, a wide- 

 spread popular interest in entomolog}' has been aroused, and 

 the value of a knowledge of such things has been once more 

 very effectually and practically demonstrated to those who 

 usually behttle such studies." The legislation in both New 

 Jersey and Massachusetts was the result of inquiries con- 

 ducted by experimenters of the respective states, and it is an 

 illustration of the influence which experiment stations are 

 already beginning to exert. 



The larger part of the experimentation of the year in econo- 

 mic mycology and entomology has been that of perfecting the 

 means and materials for spraying plants, and much of the 

 best efforts of the next few years will probably be expended 

 in the same direction. The year has marked the advent of 

 several new pumps, particularly of the knapsack pattern ; the 

 ammoniacal solution of carbonate of copper has superseded 

 the Bordeaux mixture in general favor, and initial experi- 

 ments have been made in the combination of fungicides and 

 insecticides and in the exact relations of the arsenites 

 to injury of leaves. Exact reference to all the experiment 

 work of the year w^ill be found in the ''Register of Experi- 

 mental Horticulture" in Part II. 



Plant diseases. The gist of the year's results in plant dis- 

 eases is given for this occasion by D. G. Fairchild of the Di- 

 vision of Vegetable Pathology of the national Department of 

 Agriculture : 



"The importance of investigating the diseases of our crops 

 is becoming more and more apparent as our knowledge on the 

 subject increases. To the older inhabitants whose memories 

 stretch back into the days of sure crops and bounteous har- 

 vests, the successive failures and multiplication of plant dis- 

 eases may well raise the question of what these plant parasites 

 are, where they come from and into what straits they must in- 

 evitably drive the horticulturist of the future. That the fung- 

 ous diseases of plants have increased during the past few 

 years there is no more reason to doubt than that the weeds of the 

 gardens have grown and spread their seed from field to field. 

 The two cases are analogous. From the beginning of hus- 

 bandry the attention of farmers has been called to the neces- 



