FLORA 
AND SYLVA. 
Vol. III. No. 31.] 
OCTOBER, 1905 
[Monthly. 
STATE AID IN RURAL WORK. 
The Bureau of Plant Industry under 
the United States Department of Agri- 
culture, is a great aid to the rural workers 
of the country. Work here left to the 
Royal Horticultural and other societies 
or to private growers, is undertaken by 
the State in America for the common 
good. Assured of official encourage- 
ment, scientists also find it to their ad- 
vantage to make plant-life and health 
subjects of their life work, whereas with 
us the reward of such work is so pre- 
carious that the best men cannot afford 
to devote themselves to it and such re- 
sultsasareattainedaremostly too incom- 
plete or too haphazard to be conclusive. 
The latest addition to the experimental 
station at Washington is a range of glass 
for the study of plant disease by the first 
scientists of the day, while other lines 
of research undertaken by this depart- 
ment include plant fertilisers and their 
value for various plants and under varied 
conditions of soil and atmosphere, and 
the value of sterilised soils in the pre- 
vention of disease and as a means to 
good growth. Plants specially liable to 
disease, such as the Carnation, Violet, 
Lettuce, and the Bermuda Lily, are re- 
ceiving attention, and information of 
value has already come to light as to 
the prevention or destruction of the 
pests which have brought loss to grow- 
ers. Thus, as regards the Bermuda Lily, 
it has been found possible to raise stock 
from seeds and grow the plants to per- 
fection in just over twelve months, a 
saving over the old methods of one to 
two years in point of time, while the 
seedlings are so nearly free from disease 
that the experimenters are confident of 
stamping it out completely within a 
very few years. Much seed of this vigor- 
ous strain, of guaranteed purity and free 
fromdisease,hasalreadybeendistributed 
amongst the growers, many of whom 
have found as large a proportion as 70 
per cent, of their stock destroyed by 
disease in recent years. Attention is 
also being given to the "soft-rot" dis- 
ease in the White Arum Lily {Rich- 
ard id) ^ now grown in some of the 
States on a vast scale. 
As regards Lettuce, after gathering 
varieties of as many distinct strains as 
possible, several thousand hybrids have 
been raised and are now being tested 
as regards quality and resistance. Similar 
experiments are in hand as regards Tom- 
atoes, Clovers, and Celery, gathered 
from all parts of the world for compari- 
