VI PREFACE 



statements, and that it will prove useful to the teaching and student 

 body. The exercises, which are given in detailed form are designed to 

 acquaint the student with the methods that are used in the cultural 

 investigation of the bacteria and fungi. It is also designed to introduce 

 the student to the highly important subject of Technical Mycology. 



The modern demands for investigators trained in technical my- 

 cology are many. The health bureaus of our large cities need men and 

 women, who can make a study of the milk, water and food supplies. 

 The men, who are engaged in the fermentation industries, frequently 

 demand expert information on the bacterial and fungal organisms, that 

 are either useful, or harmful, in the fermentation process. The bread 

 baker should have someone to whom questions relative to his, one of the 

 oldest, arts could be referred. The canner also needs such expert 

 advice. The farmer depends upon the fertility of his soil for the growth 

 of crops, and the character of that fertility determines whether his 

 crop shall be a large or a small one. It is conceded on all sides at 

 present that fertility is due not alone to the chemical character of the 

 soil, but also to other conditions which are quite as influential, such as, 

 the physical state, the bacterial and fungous flora and the presence or 

 absence of toxic substances. A study of the mycologic flora of the soil 

 can only be pursued satisfactorily by those who have been trained in 

 cultural methods. 



Then too the study of plant diseases and animal diseases rests funda- 

 mentally upon technical mycologic laboratory methods. The alarm- 

 ing increase of plant diseases has attracted a larger and ever growing 

 number of young men into the study of bacteriology and fungology. 

 There seem to be unlimited opportunities for such carefully trained men 

 and women to get profitable employment in health bureaus, manufac- 

 turing plants, agricultural experiment stations, and as plant doctors 

 stationed in our larger towns and cities, ready, as a medical doctor is 

 ready, to give for a monetary consideration expert advice and treatment. 

 Lastly, there are chances for men and women trained in technical 

 mycology to become professors, or teachers, of the subject in our col- 

 leges and agricultural high schools. Such trained specialists can help 

 to increase the crop-producing capacity of our farms by eliminating 

 the prevalent diseases, which reduce seriously the farmers' profits. 

 Such specialists are conservationists in the truest sense of the term. 



