1896.] PUBLIC DOCUMENT — No. 33. 



REPORT OF THE BOTANIST. 



GEORGE E. STONE. 



This department of investigation was established in 1888 

 and continued until 1892, when, on account of Dr. Hum- 

 phrey's resignation, it was temporarily discontinued. Last 

 July the department was re-established, and the physio- 

 logical laboratory is now devoted to experimental work 

 along the lines for which it was largely designed. Owing 

 to the fact that the laboratory and its equipment were 

 being used in other lines of investigation to the middle of 

 September, experimental work in botany was necessarily 

 delayed, and it was not until October that experiments 

 were under way. At the present time, therefore, only a 

 brief report can be offered. It may not be out of place, 

 however, to state concisely some of the details relating to 

 the line of work which is being pursued, reserving a fuller 

 account of the experiments for subsequent publications. 



The work of the division falls mainly under two heads, 

 namely, vegetable physiology and vegetable pathology. 

 The first occupies itself with a study of plant diseases, 

 their prevention and cure. The second deals particularly 

 with the function of the plant, whether normal or abnor- 

 mal, and is concerned with the action of such external influ- 

 ences as heat, light, moisture, etc. It further endeavors to 

 ascertain how far the utilization of these external influences 

 is responsible for the inroads of fungi, and how far the 

 fungi can be controlled by these physiological factors. 



Study of Injurious Fungi. 



Throughout the entire year a large number of diseased 

 plants is sent in for diagnosis. Work in (his line must 

 always be in progress, and the examination of these dis- 



