NATIONAL COUNCIL OF HORTICULTURE 19 



the world necessity has forced the saving of the last straw. This is 

 why we find the drouth-resistant durum wheats in the- dry regions of 

 Russia and Asia and around the Mediterranean, the alkali and drouth- 

 resistant alfalfas and other forage crops in the same regions, a cold- 

 resistant alfalfa in Siberia and northern Manchuria, the cold-resistant 

 winter wheats of Russia, and other crops too numerous to mention. 

 Hundreds of years of culture and selection, forced by poverty and 

 necessity under forbidding conditions of cold and drouth and disease, 

 have made those sections veritable storehouses of good things, but 

 what nature and necessity have not produced for us we can in large 

 measure do for ourselves. We can combine the cold-resisting quality 

 of the trifoliate inedible orange with the fruit qualities of the tender 

 sweet orange; the disease-resistant quality of the citron with the fruit 

 quality of the edible melons ; the rust-resistant quality of the durum 

 wheat with the berry of the Blue Stem; the cold-resistant quality of 

 the wild crab with the fruit of our finer apples. The possibilities of 

 such composite breeding have scarcely been touched or appreciated. 

 In such work many factors must be taken into account and great care 

 and foresight exercised. 



PATHOLOGICAL INVESTIGATION. 



Coming now to the scientific study of plant diseases, there is almost 

 unlimited room for improvement. Compared with what there is still 

 to discover, our knowledge of most diseases is still meager and one- 

 sided. The brain of the pathologist is his most important instrument 

 in such investigation. It must be trained to work with precision in all 

 of the various directions and fields involved in such study. This is not 

 now generally the case, and our colleges must be awakened to their 

 duty. To most successfully combat a disease, we should know the 

 causes that contribute to it and as much about the causes as possible. 

 We should understand the pathological reaction of the diseased plant. 

 Only in this way shall we be able to remoye the causes or protect the 

 plant against them or assist it to recover. 



SPRAYING. 



In the cases of disease due to attack of parasitic organisms, we 

 are often able to protect our crops by spraying. Spraying, like a coat 

 of mail, is a protection against entrance to the tissues by invading 

 organisms. If there are any holes in the coat of mail or if it is made 

 of poor material or is put on after the arrow has pierced the flesh, 

 it may be of no avail. Much of our spraying has holes in it. The 

 tissues are not properly coated during the periods of attack. Much 

 of the new growth is left unprotected during the critical period. The 

 parasite gets in through these places, and we find too late that hasty, 

 careless spraying is of little value. 



Improperly made mixtures or mixtures made of poor materials 

 are often no protection and may be as injurious as the disease. Even 

 good Bordeaux mixture can not safely be used on some plants, like 



