1913.1 PUBLIC DOCUMENT — No. 31. 35 



DEPARTMENT OF VEGETABLE PHYSIOLOGY AND 

 PATHOLOGY. 



REPORT OF THE BOTANIST. 



G. E, STONE. 



This department lias the past year been engaged in the usual 

 routine and research work, investigations being made of the 

 new diseases which come to our attention and which are given 

 a thorough study if thej prove serious. 



Mr. G. IT. Chapman, research assistant, has been engaged 

 on problems of a technical nature, and Mr. E. A. Larrabee's 

 attention has been given mainly to the diagnosis of diseases 

 and seed work. The office work has been carried on as usual 

 by Miss J. V. Crocker, and Mr. R. G. Smith, who is at present 

 assisting in the senior laboratory, performed some experiments 

 in the summer with the chestnut bark disease. IMessrs. Torrey, 

 Larsen, Ellis, Lyon, Sullivan and . Chase, undergraduate stu- 

 dents, have given assistance in various ways, — in the green- 

 house, with experiments, etc., and Mr. T. W. Xicolet has taken 

 many of the photographs. A list of several problems which 

 the department has been investigating follows. 



A careful study is being made of some of the diseases of 

 field and greenhouse crops. This includes an investigation of 

 the conditions causing the diseases and experiments with 

 methods for their control. Among those receiving special at- 

 tention are some diseases of the apple, potato, cucumber, melon, 

 lettuce, tomato and herbaceous plants and shade trees. In the 

 last two years there has been present a serious blight on green- 

 house cucumbers which has in some instances caused a total 

 failure of the cucumber crop in this section, and some study has 



