AnUKHTIiTUIlAI. APPROPRf ATFON BIM- IflM. 



197 



Doctor (Vk)N's. Usimlly we take the »<»con<l step after the firHt step 

 is taken. b<it this is the fiiNt attd the iinportanf step 



Mr. I^iiHAN AN. What I wniit to know is whether tluTe is any otlier 

 hush eoncernecl except the harherrv hush ^ 



Doctor Coons. No; tlicre is not. 



Mr. Bi'ciiAXAN. Then if we take the first step, ami there is no 

 second step, and we ccunpietely eradicate it, we are thnui^li with the 

 prohl(Mn ( 



Doctor CooN'.**. We will he thnmph with the problem as far as 

 ereat epidemics, which sweep the c(»untrv. are con<erfied. I <|o not 

 know whetlicr any(»nc w<»ul«l want to tnnke tlie stnteincnt that the 

 rust would absolutely disn[)pear with the eradication of the barberry, 

 hut I do not believe scientists would want to «;o that far. Vou know, 

 we are conservative. 



^fr. lil'CHAXAN. You are catilious f 



Doctor Coons. ^'(«s. But we believe that the eradication of the 

 barberry will result in the st(»pping of the j;reat epidemics which 

 have heretofore swept over the country, because we are all con- 

 vin<-ed tlmt tiiese f^reat epidemics start with the barberry bush and 

 sweep over the country from the momentum tliev derive from this 

 enrlv start in the sprinj;. 



^fr. Fri.LER. The next {gentleman who will discuss this proposi- 

 tion will give you. possibly, a more specific answer to the <|Uestion 

 you have just put, Mr. Buchanan, a ipiestion which has occurred to 

 all of us. namely, will barberry eradication actually accomplish 

 what we are ciniminf; for it ( Dr. K. C. Stakman. plant patholojjist 

 of the Minnesota Collej^e of Ajz;riculture. was borrowed last summer 

 by the I'nited States Department of A<;riculture and sent to Kurope 

 to find out what had been done over there. His story is of tre- 

 mendous interest and has a very important bearint; on your con- 

 sideration of this (juestion. 



Monday, Xovkaiblk 27, 1922. 



STATEMENT OF DR. E. C. STAKMAN. PLANT PATHOLOGIST, 

 MINNESOTA COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE. 



Doctor Stak.max. Mr. Chairman and {rentlemen, the questiim has 

 alwavs arisen as to whether the eradication of the barberry would 

 absohitely control the black-stem rust. We did not know exactly 

 about that situation in this country because the experiment had 

 never been made on a lar<i;e enough scale. We did know that in cer- 

 tain areas where the barberry has been for years there had been heavv 

 rust and that when the barberries were removed the rust disappeared. 

 But there were no availa})le experiments on large areas. We knew 

 that some barberry eradication work had been done in Kurope and 

 that Denmark had solved this problem by eradicating the barberries, 

 but we did not know much about the situation in the rest of Kurope. 

 So I obtained leave of absence from the university last year and the 

 Department of Agriculture asked me to go over there to find out 

 what had been done in Europe. 



I found, in the first place, thai western Kuropean countries had 

 taken out practically all the barberries from the agricultural ilistricts; 



