218 AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. [Jan. 



9. Department of Vegetable Physiology. 

 Report by Prof. Jas. Ellis Humphrey. 



During the past year the work of this department has 

 gone on steadily, and with some interesting results. Ac- 

 cording to the plan indicated in our last report, the chief 

 subjects of investigation during the winter and spring have 

 been certain diseases of winter crops under glass. It is 

 proposed to continue this line of work in the study of other 

 such diseases, both because the equipment of the station 

 affords facilities for such work, and because the extent of 

 the green-house interest in Massachusetts renders such in- 

 vestigations appropriate and desirable. The writer will be 

 glad to communicate with any person who suffers from any 

 disease of plants grown under glass, and to receive diseased 

 plants for study, as well as to render any service in his 

 power to losers by open-air diseases in summer. 



A very decided gain has been observable during the year 

 in the importance and amount of the correspondence of the 

 department and in the promptness and fulness with which 

 inquiries addressed to persons who could furnish practical 

 information to the department have been answered. This is 

 gratifying, because it indicates that the efforts of the station 

 to advance knowledge and disseminate information in the 

 field of vegetable pathology, as well as in other lines in 

 which its work has been longer established, are coming to 

 be appreciated. As in the past, all correspondence will re- 

 ceive prompt attention. 



The details of the year's work here reported are grouped 

 under the following heads : — 



1. The Rotting of Lettuce. 



2. The Powdery Mildew of the Cucumber. 



3. Various Diseases. 



4. Preventive Treatment. 



a. In Genearl. 



b. For Smuts. 



As heretofore, reference to the " General Account of the 

 Fungi," in the seventh report of this station, will be found 

 helpful to an understanding of these discussions. 



