14 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY, 
Berk., the cause of the so-called " New York " canker * of apple 
twigs, leaf-spot, and rotting of apples in America, according to Hesler, 
proves but the pycnidial condition of another ascomycete, Physalo- 
spora Cydoniae, which in the ascigerous stage can exist upon 
both the Quince and Hamamelis. The fungus Gloeosportum rufo- 
maculans, a conidial form described by Berkeley as a Septoria, 
the cause of another apple-rot, according to the work of Clinton, 
and of Spaulding and von Schrenk, also possesses an ascigerous 
Glomerella stage. Much has been done by the method of inoculation 
to ascertain the relation existing between the many Gloeosporia which 
have received different specific names according to their hosts : thus 
grapes have been inoculated successfully with the apple Gloeosportum 
and the reciprocal operation performed by Southworth ; the apple 
with the Quince form by Stoneman ; whilst conidial forms from the 
grape (G. rufomaculans) , apple (G. fructigenum) , fig (G. Elasticae), 
and species from the Cranberry, Gleditschia, Ginkgo, and bean (Colleto- 
trichum Lindemuthianum) have yielded the same ascigerous stage 
in pure culture (Shear and Wood). This list has been extended by 
J.J. Taubenhaus, of the Delaware Station, to include anthracnose 
of the Sweet Pea. In absence of knowledge of this kind it is easy 
to see how difficult it is to control fungi. We fail to avert apple- 
rot because the fungus passes its existence in another form in the 
quince, or we fail to dislodge a Sweet Pea parasite because the same 
fungus abides in several hosts. 
During the last quarter of a century there has been a great 
awakening in the United States of America ) we have witnessed the 
growth of a world-eminent school of bacteriology founded by Erwin 
Smith, whose great achievement in isolating bacteria causing tumours 
in plants will be within your recollection. A Phytopathological 
Society and Journal (" Phytopathology ") have arisen within the 
last few years, and great practical campaigns have been instituted 
and are being carried out against fungal pests of crops and orchards. 
Can we in Britain chronicle progress at all comparable with that 
in other countries and worthy of our position as the centre of this 
great Empire ? For example, have we pursued the problem of potato 
disease with sufficient vigour ? We do not yet know the source, f 
nor can we prophesy the course, of the Phytophthora outbreak through- 
out the country. It is not enough to obtain records of the distribu- 
tion of such pests, invaluable as the records are ; we must know the 
conditions governing their occurrence and intensity, and be prepared 
to chart the course of an epidemic in relation to climatic and natural 
features somewhat on the lines adopted by Gy. de Istvanffi, Gy. 
* E. S. Salmon announced the occurrence of " New York " canker in England 
in the Gardeners' Chronicle No. 3617, April 1910, p. 258, being apparently unaware 
that the fungus responsible, Sphaeropsis Malorum Berk., was discovered in 
England by Berkeley on apples at King's Cliff e in 1836. 
I I. E. Melhus states that Phytophthora can remain forty -five days latent in 
tubers after planting, that it can spread and reach the sprout, and that it can 
extend into dwarfed shoots in the field. 
