1909.] Control of Plant Diseases in Germany. 843 



depended more or less upon chance, and could not be relied 

 upon 'to give a picture of the actual position as regards plant 

 injuries. It was hoped, therefore, that the co-operation of 

 the Government would lead to a more systematic arrangement. 

 The organisation proposed by the Biological Institute con- 

 templates the formation of Central Bureaux or Reporting 

 Stations, with District Reporters, and a body of local corre- 

 spondents. The Reporting Stations would usually be the 

 Experimental Stations or Colleges dealing with plant diseases 

 in each Province or State, and their duties are to control the 

 work of the subsidiary stations and correspondents ; to inform 

 the Biological Institute of the occurrence of new or specially 

 important diseases, to give information and advice, and to 

 supply the Biological Institute annually with material for an 

 annual report based on the statements they receive. The 

 District Reporters are required to have a knowledge of the 

 common diseases, so as to give advice locally, and are to 

 collect information as to the prevalence of insects and pests 

 and to communicate the information to the Central Station. 

 The correspondents are persons connected with rural indus- 

 tries, who undertake to collect and distribute information. 



An organisation on these lines has been gradually intro- 

 duced, and in 1907 there were 14 principal stations in Prussia, 

 with 199 subsidiary centres, together with 12 principal stations 

 in other States of the German Empire. The first report under 

 the new system on the Diseases and Pests of Cultivated 

 Plants was issued by the Ministry of the Interior in 1907, and 

 refers to the year 1905. 



Although this attempt to create a network of agencies for 

 the purpose of observing plant diseases all over Germany is 

 still in its infancy, somewhat similar systems had previously 

 been in existence in several States, and these have been more 

 or less incorporated in the new undertaking. In Bavaria at 

 the present time there are 70 information bureaux and 331 

 correspondents attached to the Agricultural Botanical Insti- 

 tute at Munich. Dr. Hiltner states (Prak. Blatter fur Pflan- 

 zenbau, July, 1908) that by means of this organisation no pest 

 or disease of cultivated plants can occur to any great extent 

 without the Institute being informed, and it has been possible 

 each year to know with tolerable accuracy the area of distribu- 



