IN THE VICTORIAN ERA n 



life is carried on have not been confined to pro- 

 viding plants with suitable bacterial friends ; 

 vigorous and successful efforts have been made 

 to remove from their entourage those bacterial 

 enemies and undesirable parasites which have 

 for so long played so important a part in the 

 crop-returns of many an agriculturist. 



For the identification and separation of the 

 plant-parasites of various kinds we have largely 

 to acknowledge our indebtedness to American 

 investigators, and the encouragement and support 

 which Dr. Erwin Smith, amongst others, has 

 received from the Government of the United States 

 in the prosecution of these researches indicates 

 how great is the public importance attached to 

 them. There are in America alone fifty experi- 

 ment stations where plant diseases are studied, 

 whilst at a number of the colleges and universities 

 more or less attention is given to the subject. 

 Some idea of the loss occasioned to agriculturists 

 by these plant pests may be formed by a recent 

 announcement that the Department of Agriculture 

 in Queensland was prepared to offer a reward of 

 5,000 for the discovery of a means to eradicate 

 the prickly-pear disease. Plant pathology has not 

 yet had a distinct chair allotted to it in any of the 

 great universities, but the subject is of such vast 



