118 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



One of the encouraging signs of progress in the war upon 

 fungous enemies of plants is the enlightened action by which 

 many horticulturists, as individuals and as organizations, are 

 profiting from the results of scientific investigation. Not only 

 is this so with regard to direct prophylactic treatment, but es- 

 pecially in the general tendency toward improvement in methods 

 of propagation, culture, handling, and environment, "which are 

 applied to the management of the fruits that minister so largely 

 to the comfort and happiness of life. These are the coast de- 

 fences and the methods of diploinacy by means of which threat- 

 ened invasion is averted, and by means of which the life of our 

 plants and the sources of revenue are preserved. 



Discussion. 



Before the lecture commenced printed slips were distributed 

 which contained a brief abstract of the paper. 



President Appleton complimented the lecturer on the interest 

 and value of his paper, and asked whether any attempts had been 

 made to destroy insects injurious to vegetation by means of 

 parasitical fungi. 



Professor Atkinson replied in the affirmative, first saying that 

 the families of such fungi were different from those which 

 attacked plants, and citing the case of the attempt in the West to 

 kill chinch-bugs by means of Sporotrichum glohuliferum. 



Professor A. B. Seymour asked whether the cluster-cups, pro- 

 duced upon the barberry by the specialized forms of Piircinia 

 graminis, differed from each other and from those produced by 

 the type, intimating that they might be true species. 



Professor Atkinson answered that more investigation was 

 needed before those matters could be determined. 



President Appleton inquired in regard to the possibility of 

 cultivating the parasitical fungi which attack insects. 



Professor Atkinson replied that these matters are now at- 

 tracting the attention of investigators. It is claimed that the 

 cultivations of Sporotrichum glohuliferum which have been sent 

 to the farmers have done great good ; but tliese questions are by 

 no means settled. 



