4 



OPINIONS OF THE AUTHORITIES. 



No One Better Fitted to Write it.— I am glad 

 that you induced Prof. Scrlbner to write the work on 

 Fungus Diseases of Grapes and Other Plants. No person. 

 couM be found better fitted for such a task, and I am 

 sure the manner in which he has accomplished his task 

 will commend itself to all who are familiar with the 

 rust, mildews and moulds which afflict horticulturists. 

 It is pleasant to me to see so much developed in this 

 direction, when over a quarter of a century ago, some 

 few of us, as practical horticulturists, insisted that 

 small fungi would attack healthy vegetation, and cause 

 disease, were laughed at, and even so good a friend 

 and intelligent botanist as Prpf . Thurber, invented the 

 term of f ungo-probists for those of us who contended 

 this fact. There was scarcely an under-glass grape 

 grower but had seen fungus from rotton wood, spread- 

 ing from rotten wood to the stems of grapevines in the 

 vineries, eating its way ail around the stems. We had 

 seen fungus on Ehododendrons generated in rotten 

 leaves and eating around and girdling the stems; we 

 had seen the fungus from rotten wood in the earth 

 from the Mycelium or spawn of the mushroom known 

 as the Agaricus melleus, spreading from the rotton 

 wood in the soil to the roots of pines, firs and other 

 trees, rendering the plants as yellow as a Peach tree 

 with the "yellows.'" We had seen and known all this, 

 before the man with a microscope came along to tell us 

 the exact names of the fungus plants, acting in this 

 way. Now they have gone ahead of us, and what with 

 Baccilli, Microbes, and many other of the low forms 

 of vegetation, contend for plant diseases by their agen- 

 cy much more fervently than the old horticulturist 

 with all his advance of knowledge, had ever dreamed 

 of. One of the merits of Prof. Scrlbner 's book is, that 

 when he doesn't know he honestly says so. He doesn't 

 know how the Peach-leaf Curl is propagated. It is 

 known that it is a fungus, but just how it gets in a 

 plant and starts its spores is not known. Considering 

 how so many would know everything, it is not the 

 least commendable part of Prof, Scribner's work that 

 when he doesn't know,he says so. I am quite sure there 

 is no one interested in fruit growing, or in diseases of 

 plants generally, but will be very thankful that this 

 excellent work of Prof. Scribner's has been published.— 

 Thomas Meehan, Botanist of the Pennsylvania 

 Boa/rd of Agriculture. 



Of Much Practical Value.— I have read Prof^ 

 Scribner's work upon "Fungus Diseases of the Grape 

 and Other Plants" with much pleasure. This manual 

 of the subjects treated cannot but convey much valu- 

 able Information to those who have suffered from the- 

 maladies of cultivated plants. Rarely one finds so- 

 much that is of practical value brought together In so- 

 attractive and convenient a form for the crop grower.. 

 — Byron D. Halstead, Botanist and Horticulturist, 

 N. J. Agricultural College Experiment Station. 



