106 HISTORY OF PHYTOPATHOLOGY 



to make practical use of the fungicidal properties of 

 formaldehyd, 1 and is widely known as the advocate of 

 the seed and soil infestation theory for the explanation 

 of the decreasing yields on western flax and wheat lands 2 ; 

 F. C. Stewart, botanist of the New York (Geneva) 

 Experiment Station, noted for the great variety of his 

 studies on plant diseases 3 and his ten-year experiments 

 in potato spraying, 4 and A. D. Selby, botanist of the 

 Ohio Experiment Station. There are numerous others 

 who in their earlier years contributed much to the ad- 

 vancement of the science, but who later passed into ad- 



1 Bolley, H. L.: New studies upon the smut of wheat, oats, and 

 barley, with a resume of treatment experiments for the last three years, 

 North Dakota Agr. Exp. Sta. Bui. 27 : 109-162, 1897. For excellent 

 bibliography of early papers on formalin as a disinfectant, see Arthur, 

 J. C., Formalin for prevention of potato scab, Indiana Agr. Exp. Sta. 

 Bui. 65 : 1-35, 1897. 



2 Bolley, H. L.: Wheat, North Dakota Agr. Exp. Sta. Bui. 107 : 1-94, 

 1913. See also Conservation of the purity of soils in cereal cropping, 

 Science, n. s., 32 : 529-541, 1910; and, Plant diseases and crop rotation, 

 The Northwestern Miller, 89 : 565-566, 585, 623, 624, 641, 642, 1912. 



The main facts and the economic significance of soil infestation by 

 phytopathogenes appears to have been first clearly set forth by Erwin 

 F. Smith as a result of his studies on the Fusarium diseases of water- 

 melons, cowpeas, cotton, tomatoes, sweet potatoes, and cabbage. The 

 matter is admirably set forth by him in a paper under the title: The 

 fungous infestation of agricultural soils in the United States, which 

 appeared in The Scientific American, Supplement, No. 1246, pp. 19981, 

 19982, November 18, 1899. 



3 Stewart, F. C.: Botanical investigations. In, Twenty-fifth 

 Anniversary Report 1882 to 1907, New York (Geneva) Agr. Exp. Sta. 

 Ann. Rep. 26 : 3 : 119-162, 1908. Published also as reprint, pp. 1-44, 

 1908. This is a summary of botanical work at the station during these 

 twenty-five years. For later papers by Stewart, see bulletins and reports 

 of N. Y. (Geneva) Experiment Station since 1908. 



4 Stewart, F. C., et al: Potato spraying experiments, 1902-11, New 

 York (Geneva) Agr. Exp. Sta. Bui. 349 : 99-139, 1912. 



