CHAPTER XVIII. 



PLANT DISEASES. 



One plant devours another and the struggle for ex- 

 istence often resolves itself into a battle with bacteria. 



NOT MUCH 



Our agri culture in the West, with new soils 

 WITH PLANT and arid climate, is comparatively free from 

 DISEASES serious trouble with plant diseases. As farm- 



ing increases and the soils have been in cultiva- 

 tion for some time, many of them used year after 

 year for the production of the same crop and no 

 attention given to the first appearance of sick- 

 ness in plants, these diseases sometimes steal up- 

 on us unawares until they occasion heavy loss. 

 Usually they are not considered worthy of seri- 

 ous thought until heavy loss has occurred and the 

 disease is practically beyond control. The 

 farmer must be on the lookout for all those 

 things which seem detrimental to his prosperity. 

 The plant diseases of the West, like other condi- 

 tions which we find, are different from those of 

 the East, where agriculture has been practiced 

 for many years. Ofttimes a disease appearing 

 in the West is attributed to the same cause which 

 produces a like disease in the East, and nearly 

 as often the observer who studies deeply, finds 

 that he has been mistaken. There are a few 

 men in Western colleges and experiment stations 

 who are now studying plant disease problems. 



