15 



The Community Plant Doctor. 



Your attention has been directed in the above quotation to 

 our experience with industrial fellowship laboratories. The 

 w^ork of the field man on an industrial fellowship differs, in two 

 respects at least, from that of the special field assistant. The 

 former has for his primary function that of research or the solu- 

 tion by investigation of problems of pressing importance to the 

 growers. He also performs the function of general advisor or 

 supervisor on disease and pest control applicable to the crops 

 grown by the farmers with whom he works. This, however, 

 is a secondary though verj^ important feature. In the second 

 place his obligations are limited to a much smaller number of 

 growers, usually from 12 to 25. He is the personal or local 

 plant doctor for a very small number of growers, who provide 

 his salary, living expenses while in the field, a laboratory room, 

 and a car for his use in conducting the work. The college pro- 

 vides a complete laboratory equipment and directs his work. 

 The fellow spends the growing season (four to six months) in 

 the field, the remainder of the time at the college in study and 

 investigation looking to his doctor's degree. The fellowship 

 contract is so drawn that the growers may look forward to the 

 services of the same man for a continuous period of from two 

 to four years. The total cost to the growers per year ranges 

 from $1,500 to $2,000. It costs the college an approximately 

 equal amount to equip the laboratory and supervise the work. 



During the period from 1909 to 1916, the department of 

 plant pathology at Cornell University had about forty-five such 

 annual fellowships, representing a total investment by our 

 farmers and commercial concerns of some $60,000. During the 

 war, due to a lack of qualified men to fill such positions, the 

 number of fellowships dropped to one, but last year we had 

 three in operation and already requests for a total of eleven 

 such arrangements for next season have been made. Two of 

 these are from small groups of fruit growers. The others are 

 distributed among groups of potato growers, cauliflower grow- 

 ers, market gardeners, truck growers and greenhouse men, and 

 two have been provided by a commercial company for investi- 

 gations on dusting. Even in the last case the eager co-opera- 



