Preface ix 



United States is approximately $10,000,000. About 

 $750,000 of this loss may be attributed to stem rot, 

 the other important diseases being black rot, foot 

 rot, and storage rots. 



"Asparagus Rust. Asparagus rust has practically 

 destroyed all of the original plantings of asparagus 

 and driven the old varieties out of cultivation. These 

 have now been replaced by partially resistant kinds 

 and the new strain bred by this Department is almost 

 wholly resistant, so that in the near future these 

 losses will be eliminated. Tests of some of the new 

 rust-resisting strains in 1915 showed gains over the 

 standard varieties amounting to more than $200 

 per acre. 



" Cowpea Diseases. It is estimated that the an- 

 nual saving as a result of the introduction of wilt 

 and root-knot resistant cow-peas is $3,000,000." 



A conservative estimate of the money loss from 

 diseases would be about 20% of the total value of 

 the truck crops grown in the United States. Accord- 

 ing to the estimate given on page vii, the total value of 

 the truck crop in the United States in 1909 amounted 

 to the sum of $301,104,144. If 20% of this was lost 

 through damage from diseases, it will be seen that 

 in 1909 the American truckers lost $60,220,828. 

 This does not include the large losses from insect 

 pests, nor losses incurred in storing, or in shipping 

 truck produce. 



It is no exaggeration to state that if our present 

 knowledge of Plant Pathology were made use of by 

 truck farmers, nearly 80% of this loss could be 



