VI PREFACE 



confirmation by L. R. Jones, Professor of Plant Pa- 

 thology, and by J. G. Moore, Professor of Horticulture, 

 in the College of Agriculture of the University of Wis- 

 consin, each of whom has been desirous to retain the 

 method and spirit of the original author, The book 

 had been a labor of love on the part of Professor Goff 

 and his wife; and the son, Moulton B. Goff, now a 

 farmer in Wisconsin, has arranged that the work shall 

 be perpetuated. 



Emmett Stull Goff was born at Elmira, New York, 

 in 1852, and died at Madison, Wisconsin, in 1902. He 

 was reared on the farm. On the establishing by the 

 State of the Agricultural Experiment Station at Geneva, 

 N. Y., he was elected horticulturist, in which capacity 

 he continued until 1889, when he was elected to the 

 chair of horticulture in the University of Wisconsin, 

 where he remained. At Geneva he established a record 

 for thorough and patient work and was accorded the 

 confidence of the people of the State. He was an early 

 investigator in plant-breeding, in the study of varieties 

 of vegetables, and in the uses and applications of in- 

 secticides and fungicides. In the First Annual Report 

 of the Station, Director Sturtevant wrote : " On March 

 17, [1882] Mr. E. S. Goff arrived to serve as horti- 

 culturist, and has proved a thoughtful, earnest, indus- 

 trious man, whose services derive value through the 

 though tf ulness and intelligence displayed." Professor 

 S. A. Beach, now of the Iowa State College, found the 

 horticultural work at Geneva in progressive condition 

 when he took it up as Professor Goff's successor. He 

 calls particular attention to the plant-breeding investi- 

 gations : " A single illustration of his habit of careful 

 and thoughtful observation may be of interest in this 

 connection. In the report of the station for the next 



