1896.] PUBLIC DOCUMENT — No. 33. 9 



hairs. These facts, with other phenomena apparently of a 

 similar nature which occur in the leguminoste, etc., have 

 led Frank* to surmise that these fungi play an important 

 role in the assimilation of food material from the soil. As 

 no investio-ations have been made to our knowledoe on the 

 occurrence of fungi on the roots of our native species of 

 plants. Professor Smith and myself have devoted consider- 

 able attention during the- past summer to work in this 

 direction, for the purpose of determining, first, the prev- 

 alence of fungi on roots of our native plants ; second, 

 their nature and distribution; third, their relation to the 

 absence of root hairs. Already a large 'number of plants 

 have been examined, and it is proposed to carry on the inves- 

 tigations during the coming summer, with these additional 

 points in view, — fourth, to prove by means of cultures 

 whether the fungi are really essential to the plant in the 

 assimilation of food from the soil ; fifth, if proved, to throw 

 some light, if possible, upon the process of assimilation ; 

 sixth, to ascertain whether these fungi are in any way — as 

 Kerner maintains they are — accountable for the difficulty 

 of transplanting certain plants. 



Damping Fungi and their Relations to Temjoerature and 



Moisture. 



Experiments are being made to ascertain the exact relations 

 of the development of the damping fungi to temperature 

 and moisture conditions. A large number of plants subject 

 to damping off are being experimented with in a portion of ■ 

 the greenhouse provided with self-registering instruments. 

 In connection with this line of work, experiments are being 

 made to find out at what temperature the spores of injurious 

 fungi common to the greenhouse commence to germinate. 

 These experiments are undertaken for the purpose of learn- 

 ing to what extent certain diseases can be controlled by 

 temperature and moisture conditions. 



* Lehrbuch tier Botanik, page 295. 



