DISEASES OF ECONOMIC 

 J PLANTS 



HISTORICAL !• -• •-«■ 27 



1 



The science of Plant Disease or Phytopathology was ir 

 its early formative period between 1853 and 1870, the 

 foundations being laid in the pioneer work of Berkeley, 

 De Bary and the Tulasne brothers in establishing the 

 parasitism of the fungi, and in Pasteur's fundamental work 

 on Bacteria and Spontaneous Generation. 



To be sure some of the most conspicuous diseases had 

 long been known by sight. Blight and mildew were re- 

 ferred to in both the Old and the New Testament. Wheat 

 rust was mentioned by Aristotle, 350 b.c. and reference 

 to mildew is found in King Lear, Act III, Sc. 4. There 

 was legislation even regarding wheat rust as early as 1660. 

 However, there was little or no real knowledge of plant 

 diseases in those times, beyond the fact that various diseases 

 existed, and this knowledge was shrouded in superstition. 



Following the pioneer publications of Berkeley, De Bary, 

 and the Tulasne brothers came the more complete treatises 

 of Kuehn (1858), Hartig (1874), Frank (1880, 1895), Sorauer 

 (1874, 1886, 1908), Kirchner (1890), Tubeuf (1894), Prillieux 

 (1895), Delacroix (1902, 1908, 1911), Ward (1896, 1901, 

 1909), and others. 



It was not until 1873 that plant pathology became a 

 part of instruction in botany, and not until 1875 that special 

 courses in pathology were given in any of the schools of 

 Ameiica. 



A series of papers begun by Burrill in 1873, another by 

 Farlow in 1875, and other publications by Bessey, con- 



fWf^TT iHBRART 



