228 



(Reprinted from Bulletin of the Torbey Botanical Club, Vol. XIII., No. 11.) 



A Letter from Commissioner Colman to the Botanists of the A, A. A. S. 



Department of Agriculture, 

 Washington, D. C, October 20th, 1881 

 To the Members of the Botanical Club of the American Association for the Advance- 

 ment of Science : 



Ladies and Gentlemen : I have noted with extreme gratification the interest 

 you have taken in the work established by me in this Department, relative to the in- 

 vestigation of the fungus diseases of plants ; and the resolutions you have passed com- 

 mending my action and assuring me of your support and aid in securing the necessary 

 means for the continued and successful prosecution of this most important undertaking 

 are fully appreciated, and I wish to thank you on behalf of the farmers and fruit 

 growers of the country, in whose interest and for whose direct benefit this- work is 

 designed. 



As you are well aware, only a few of the more important plant diseases have been 

 thoroughly worked out by scientists, and the little that has been done — little when 

 compared with what there is to do, but a great deal when considered by itself — has 

 been the result of private effort on the part of some of your own well-known mem- 

 bers. Such obscure diseases as the peach yellows, the cotton rust, and the "foot rot " 

 of the orange tree, demand immediate attention, and, for their proper elucidation, we 

 need to command the services of our most skillful investigators, giving them opportu- 

 nities to make special studies in the field until the knowledge desired is gained. As 

 you have well suggested, a liberal supply of funds is required for this work. 



In addition to the assistance in this particular, to which you have so generously 

 pledged yourselves, I beg leave to call your attention to the fact that you, as botan- 

 ists, knowing our cultivated and native plants and the fungus parasites infesting them, 

 may do much valuable service as observers in your respective localities, by recording 

 such facts as may come to your notice relating to this subject, and by collecting and 

 transmitting to the Department material useful in the investigations, or that may serve 

 to record the distribution of the injurious species of fungi. 



Facilities for this work, and a free use of the mails, will be accorded those who 

 may have such notes or materials to transmit, and the source of all matter that may be 

 used for publication will be properly credited. 



Again thanking you for your hearty commendation of my course in relation to 

 the subject, and assuring you that I shall continue to do all in my power to further 

 the work, I remain, 



Yours respectfully, 



NORMAN J. COLMAN, 



Commissioner . 



