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Phytoprotection

William Pollock Fraser (1867-1943) : Canadian pioneer plant pathologist-mycologist R.H. Estey

Volume 73, Number 2, 1992 Article abstract William P. Fraser, the first Canadian-born plant pathologist-mycologist to be URI: https://id.erudit.org/iderudit/706019ar internationally recognized as such, began as an amateur collector of fungi, DOI: https://doi.org/10.7202/706019ar with emphasis on the plant rusts, while teaching school in his home province, Nova Scotia. He then became a widely acclaimed authority on the rusts and a See table of contents professional plant pathologist-mycologist. He taught plant pathology and mycology, first at McGill University and then, after an interval as head of the first plant pathology laboratory in , at the University of Publisher(s) Saskatchewan. Fraser was a Canadian pioneer in research on physiological races of rust; in the culture of heteroecious rust fungi, in forest Société de protection des plantes du Québec (SPPQ)l pathology, and in the study of root and smut diseases of grasses in Western Canada. ISSN 0031-9511 (print) 1710-1603 (digital)

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Cite this article Estey, R. (1992). William Pollock Fraser (1867-1943) : Canadian pioneer plant pathologist-mycologist. Phytoprotection, 73(2), 53–59. https://doi.org/10.7202/706019ar

La société de protection des plantes du Québec, 1992 This document is protected by copyright law. Use of the services of Érudit (including reproduction) is subject to its terms and conditions, which can be viewed online. https://apropos.erudit.org/en/users/policy-on-use/

This article is disseminated and preserved by Érudit. Érudit is a non-profit inter-university consortium of the Université de Montréal, Université Laval, and the Université du Québec à Montréal. Its mission is to promote and disseminate research. https://www.erudit.org/en/ William Pollock Fraser (1867-1943): Canadian pioneer plant pathologist-mycologist

Ralph H. Estey1

Received 1992-01-29; acceptée! 1992-07-29

William P. Fraser, the first Canadian-born plant pathologist-mycologist to be internationally recognized as such, began as an amateur collector of fungi, with emphasis on the plant rusts, while teaching school in his home province, Nova Scotia. He then became a widely acclaimed authority on the rusts and a professional plant pathologist-mycologist. He taught plant pathology and my- cology, first at McGill University and then, after an interval as head of the first plant pathology laboratory in Western Canada, at the University of Saskat- chewan. Fraser was a Canadian pioneer in research on physiological races of wheat rust; in the culture of heteroecious rust fungi, in forest pathology, and in the study of root and smut diseases of grasses in Western Canada. Estey, R. H. 1992. William Pollock Fraser (1867-1943): Canadian pioneer plant pathologist-mycologist. PHYTOPROTECTION 73: 53-59. William P. Fraser est le premier phytopathologiste-mycologue originaire du Canada à être reconnu internationalement. Alors qu'il enseignait dans sa province natale, la Nouvelle-Ecosse, Fraser débuta sa carrière à titre d'amateur en collectionnant les champignons et particulièrement ceux responsables des rouilles des plantes. Il devint un spécialiste renommé des rouilles et un phyto­ pathologiste-mycologue professionnel. Il enseigna d'abord la mycologie et la phytopathologie, à l'Université McGill puis à l'Université de la Saskatchewan, après avoir été pour un temps chef du premier laboratoire de phytopathologie de l'Ouest canadien. Fraser fut un chercheur pionnier canadien dans la recher­ che sur les races physiologiques de la rouille du blé, sur la culture des rouilles hétéroïques, en pathologie forestière ainsi que dans l'étude des maladies des racines et du charbon des graminées dans l'ouest du Canada.

The first Canadian-born plant pathologist Early éducation to be internationally acclaimed as such William got his first formai éducation in was William Pollock Fraser, a native of the local school but because both of his French River (Merigomish), Pictou Coun- brothers died of scarlet fever in 1887 the ty, Nova Scotia, where he was born on a major burden of running the family farm farm in 1867; one of four children of soon became his responsibility. As a Alexander and Annabel (Pollock) Fraser. conséquence of this, it was not until his AlexanderFraserdiedinJuly1870,leaving twenty-first year, when his mother sold his wife with three small boys and a girl. the farm, that Fraser was able to attend William, the middle son, was only three the New Glasgow High School and, later, years old. the Pictou Academy, from which he grad- uated in 1896. Histransferto the Academy 1. Department of Plant Science, Macdonald was fortuitous because it was there that Campus of McGill University, Sainte-Anne- he became interested in fungi, plant dis­ de-Bellevue, Québec, Canada H9X 3V9. eases and outdoor studies in gênerai. It

53 position in the Pictou Academy, he began collecting fungi in the surrounding ré­ gion. Some of those fungi, collected in 1906, were sent to Alexander H. MacKay, who was then Nova Scotia's Superinten- dent of Education, for inclusion in his supplemental list of Nova Scotia fungi (MacKay 1908). When Fraser took his students on field trips he tended to focus their collecting efforts on fungi, and plants infected with fungi. Forawhilethey searched mainly for plants infected with powdery mildews. Seven of his students wrote brief reports on their collections which, together with a paper on the Erysi- phaceae by Fraser, were published in the first Bulletin of the Pictou Academy of Science Association, in 1909. Incidental- ly, one of those seven students was Fra- ser's nephew, John Craigie (1887-1989), the man who, in 1927, was widely ac- claimed for his discovery of the function of the pycnia of the rust fungi (Craigie 1927). William P. Fraser In the meantime officiais at Dalhousie had become traditi onal for the science University had become so impressed by teachers there to take students on field the accomplishments of this young man trips, after Alexander H. MacKay (1848- thattheyawardedhimaB.A. degree on 25 1929), a well-known amateur mycologist, April 1907. The University senate minute had done so many times during his prin- book for 24 April includes a copy of the cipalship of 16 years. convocation program which shows that Fraser was the only one in a spécial ca- Following hisgraduation,young Fraser tegory: «Bachelor of Arts. Ad eundem worked for a few months and then attend- gradum William Pollok Fraser, B.A. ed the Provincial Normal School in Truro, (Cornell) 1907.» Thus, his degree was an which at that time included courses in honorary one, granted for work that had agriculture. He thus obtained a teacher's been largely done elsewhere. The Uni­ license and an agricultural diploma in one versity records, and Fraser's marriage year. Because he had to finance his own certificate, spell his middle name as Pol­ éducation heagain hadtoworkforawhile lok, ratherthan Pollock. before enrolling in Dalhousie University in 1899. After two years he ran short of It wasn't long before Fraser began to funds and left the University to become concentrate on the rust fungi, some of Principal of the Westville High School. In which he sent to Dr. J.C. Arthur, an inter- 1903 he returned to the Pictou Academy nationally known authority of the rust aslnstructorin Natural Science. Two years fungi at Purdue University, to hâve his later he obtained leave to attend Cornell diagnosesconfirmed. For example, when University where he earned a B.A. degree Fraserfound the aecial stage of blueberry in one year. During that year his enthu- rust on balsam fir [Abies balsamea (L.) siasm for mycology and plant pathology Mill.], in July of 1909, he sent it to Arthur were again stimulated; this time by Pro- who publicized the fact that this was the fessor G.F. Atkinson, with whom he went first such collection in North America on numerous mycological and plant dis- (Arthur 1910). That correspondence with ease forays (Vanterpool 1944). Arthur, and their exchange of spécimens, continued for many years. Professional life in Nova Scotia Fraser was a very modest, self effacing When Fraser returned to his teaching man, with a slight inferiority complex.

54 ESTEY: WILLIAM P. FRASER

Having his identification of rusts con- accepted the position and went to Mac­ firmed by Arthur was a stimulus, and a donald Collège in January 1912. He did spur to the work that led to his becoming thisknowingthat Miss Alice Adèle MacRae a renowned authority on the plant rusts. would become his bride and join him Arthur became somewhat of a rôle model there later in the year. They were married forFraserwhofromthattimeonwardwas on 18 July 1912, in Durham, Nova Scotia, much more of a rust specialist than a the bride'shometown(Anonymous 1912). gênerai naturalist, although he was a na- turalist for the rest of his life. One ofthe courses that Frasertaughtat Macdonald Collège was listed in the Col­ One of Fraser's greataccomplishments, lège Announcement as: «Course 6, Plant in those early days of his career, was the Diseases, a laboratory and field study of production of a monograph on «The Rusts the common parasitic fungi of cultivated of Nova Scotia.» Although read before plants and methods of prévention and members of the Nova Scotia Institute of treatment; study of diseased tissues; cul­ Science on 23 May 1910, it was not pu- tural studies. A collection of 50 varietiesof blished, with some additions, until 1913 fungi is required of each student.» (Fraser 1913). That monograph, embody- ing the results of field, cultural and mi- During his first year in Québec, Fraser croscopical studies over a period of only demonstrated his ability as a naturalist by two years, may well be considered as the delivering a paper on the économie im­ beginning of «scientific» research on the portance of land birds, to the Québec rust fungi in Canada. In it Fraser des- Society forthe Protection of Plants (Fraser cribed 92 species and two forms of rusts, 1912b). In each of the following three several of which had not been previously years he addressed the members of that reported from North America, and he Society on some aspects of plant diseases. noted that the fungus Darluca filum (Biv.- It was on diseases of forest and shade Bern. ex Fr.) Cast. was often found para- trees, with emphasis on the rusts, in 1913; sitizing the rust fungi. Fraser's early work storage rots ofpotatoes and othervegeta- on that monograph was recognized by bles, in 1914;andthecereal rusts, in 1915. DalhousieUniversity, which, accordingto He was elected Director ofthe Society in the University Calendar for 1911, con- 1916 and retained that position for three ferred on him the degree of Master of Arts years. «by Thesis in Biology,» on 28 April 1910. Fraser spent three months, in the sum- Fraser did not simply collect rust fungi, mer of 1915, in Nova Scotia assisting the heculturedmanyofthem,especially those Provincial Entomologist, W.H. Brittain, from infected trees. In doing this he was, with his field work on plant disease pro- in a very real sensé, a Canadian pioneer blems for the Nova Scotia Department of forest pathologist. Those early experi- Agriculture (Anonymous 1916). That was ments on the culture of heteroecious rust also theyear in which he was promotedto fungi were carried out in the laboratory of the académie rank of Assistant Professor, Pictou Academy, where he was the f irst to and his major course at Macdonald Col­ work out the life historiés of Melampsora lège became «Plant Diseases and Fungi.» arctica Rostr., Melampsoropsis pyrolae Fraser's teaching of that course inspired (DC) Arthur, Necium farlowii Arthur, Margaret Newton, one of his students, to Pucciniastrum minimum (Schw.) Arthur, dévote her life to studies on the rust fungi. and Uromyces spartinae Farl. (Fraser While Margaret was still an undergrad- 1912a). uate student, she and Fraser became the first to learn that grain rust fungi occur in physiologie races (Estey Professional life in Québec 1987). In 1911 McGill University invited Fraserto acceptalectureshipinbiologyinitsFacul- Because ofthe devastating lossesfrom ty of Agriculture at Macdonald Collège, grain rusts sustained by wheat growers Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, Québec. Al­ on the Prairies in the summer of 1916, the though hewas reluctantto leavethe secu- Dominion Botanist, Hans Gùssow (1879- rityofthe Academy, and hismanyfriends 1961), sent a questionnaire to farmers in and relatives in the Pictou area, Fraser ail three Prairie provinces for information

55 abouttheextentofthe damage and where Fraser realized that certain fundamen- it first occurred. In February 1917, Fraser tal information about cereal rust diseases was hired, on a part-time basis, to analyze had to be determined before much pro- the replies, and on the recommendation gress could be made in controlling them. of Gùssow, he was appointed Officer in Thus he gave early attention to conditions Charge of Grain Disease Investigations that influencethespread and development (Johnson 1961). During that year he dis- of the rust fungi: their epidemiology. He played his versatility as a plant patho- studied various aspects of that problem logist by publishing a paper on the over- from the time he made his first survey in wintering of the apple-scab fungus (Fra­ 1917, until 1925. During the course of ser 1917). those studies much attention was given to the question of whether or not the rust Fraser made a Personal survey of the fungus could survive the Canadianwinter grain disease situation in the Prairie pro­ on grain stubble, straw and grasses, and vinces during the summers of 1917 and then infect the succeeding crop of grain. 1918, from temporary laboratories set up Each spring for several years Fraser col- at Brandon and Indian Head. His officiai lected rust spores from dead grass and title, while doing that work, was Assistant straw and learned that a few of them in Charge of the Dominion Field Laborato- could infect seedlings of grain. He also ry, Indian Head. At that time, the heads of played a leading rôle in the campaign to ail field laboratories of plant pathology in locateanddestroybarberry(£enbe/7sspp.) Canada were considered to be the Domi­ and buckthorn {Rhamnus spp.) bushes, nion Botanist's assistants. the alternate hosts of grain rust fungi Fraser was well liked by his students (Fraser 1923). but his shyness was so apparent to them Those early projects were supplemen- that on one occasion they placed bets on ted by studies on varietal résistance to whether he would publicly kiss his wife rust disease and the prevalence of phy- goodbye at the train station prior to his siological races of Puccinia graminis tritici leaving for one of those trips to Western Eriks. & E. Henn., the incitant of wheat Canada. He did not kiss her. (Personal . In thèse latter studies, he and communication with Dr. Dorothy Swales, Margaret Newton were Canadian pio- a former student.) neers. By 1924 they had shown that at least 17 races were présent in Canada. To Professional life in Saskatchewan test varietal résistance of wheat (Triticum In 1919 Fraser resignedfrom his position at aestivum L.) to rust, and to malke the MacdonaldCollegetobecome Assistant in pathologically différent races or strains Charge of a new Plant Pathology Field easier to collect, Fraser established «Uni- Laboratory on the campus of the Universi- form Rust Nurseries» at various places in ty of Saskatchewan, in . He had the Prairie provinces (Johnson 1961). not been there very long before Dr. W.P. Most of Fraser's research in Siaskat- Thompson, Professor of Biology in the chewan was centered around rust of University, arranged for him to do some wheat, but he also devoted his attention teaching in his department, on a part-time to other rusts. For example, he and G.A. N basis from January through March. In Ledingham studied sedge rust, Puccinia a! Thompson's report to the acting Président caricis-shepherdiaeJJ. Davis, (Fraser and ~ of the University, dated 27 March 1920, he Ledingham 1929) and the crown rust of ~ commented,«ThroughtheadditionofProf. oats, Puccinia coronataCorda (Fraser and £ Fraser to the staff it was possible for the Ledingham 1933). O firsttimetogive adéquate instruction in ail £ the botanical work of the department. Prof. Although preeminently a rust special- £ Fraser gives the class on Systematic Bota- ist, Fraser studied other diseases, espe- O ny and Plant Pathology (Biology 6), he also cially those of the cereals and wild gras­ o. directed the work of several spécial stu- ses. He initiated research on the smut 2 dents.» Fraser's course in plant pathology fungi in Western Canada in 1918 when he x was listed in the University Calendar as studied the biology and controlof Usf/7ago °" «Fungi and Plant Diseases,» and he is con­ bullata Berk. on western rye grass, Agro- sidered to hâve been the university's first pyron tenerum Vasey (Fraser 1920). His plant pathologist.

56 ESTEY: WILLIAM P. FRASER

experiments on the control of cereal smut flora of Saskatchewan, the University of diseasesbyseedtreatmentwerebegunin Saskatchewan bestowed on him an hono- 1922, and in the following year he coop- rary LL.D. in 1937. That was a well de- erated with P.M. Simmonds in studies on served honor because Fraser had laid the use of various substances for smut the foundation for plant disease work in control (Fraser and Simmonds 1923). Fra­ that région, and for Canadian research ser was the first to discover onion smut, on the cereal rusts (Vanterpool 1944). Urocystis cepulae Frost, in Manitoba (BisbyandConners 1928), and he was the For a short time prior to his retirement, first to report Polyspora Uni Laff., on flax, Fraser was assistée! in his botanical work Linum usitatissimum L, in Saskatchewan by Dr. R.C. Russell who, at that time, was (Vanterpool 1947). an employée of the Dominion Depart­ ment of Agriculture. In 1937 they jointly Fraser began to study the root diseases compiled a list of the flowering plants, of wheat in 1921 when he reported that ferns and fern allies of Saskatchewan root rot, apparently incited by the fungus (Fraser and Russell 1937), to which Fraser Helminthosporium sativum Pam., King, & made additionsthe following year. Fraser Bakke., was common in some areas of collected a wide range of plants and es- Saskatchewan. He,with hisassistant, D.L tablishedanherbariumof Prairie flora. As Bailey, described browning root rot, a a token of its appréciation for that endea- diseased condition of the early growth vor, the University designated the collec­ stage of wheat (Simmonds 1939). In 1923, tion as «The W.P. Fraser Herbarium.» Fraser made the first Canadian discovery of Ophiobolus cariceti(B. & Br.) Sacc, la- Fraser's habituai réticence masked a ter named O. graminis (Sacc.) Sacc, the sensé of humor that sometimes contrast- fungus that incites the take-all disease of ed sharply with his shyness, thus making wheat, on the roots of Triticum aestivum it more mémorable and entertaining. One in northern Saskatchewan (Fraser 1924). of his colleagues at the University of Sas­ katchewan recalled the time Fraser took By 1924 Fraser was widely acknowl- students on a plant disease survey and edged as the prééminent Canadian one student found an area in a farmer's authority on grain rusts. Evidence for this field that had a high concentration of dis­ lies in the fact that he is the one who was eased plants. The student, on his first asked to review the status of the cereal suchsurveyandanxioustodoeverything rust situation in Canada for the members just right, asked how he could describe of what became known as the Second the location of the diseased plants for Rust Conférence; a conférence future référence. Fraser suggested that it of rust specialists convened by the National was about twenty feet west of a certain Research Council of Canada in coopéra­ cow, and that the student should describe tion with the Dominion Department of the cow well enough to recognize herthe Agriculture in September 1925 (Anony- next time they came there (Taft 1984). mous 1925). Fraser's dual employment with the Contributions and influence Dominion Department of Agriculture and While still teaching, Fraser made a signif- the University continued until 1925 when icant contribution to «The fungi of Mani­ he resigned from the former and became toba and Saskatchewan;» a bookthat was a full-time Professor of Biology in the sponsored by the National Research University. His areas of teaching expand- Council of Canada and published in 1938 ed but were largely confined to Taxo- (Bisby étal. 1938). nomic Botany, Diseases of Plants, and Mycology. He continued to teach those Fraser's collection of rust fungi and courses, with variations, until heretired in their host plants in his herbarium facilita- 1937, at which time the University made ted the work ofl.L Conners who made use him Emeritus Professor of Biology. of them to complète his survey of the plant rusts in 1925. That was a joint ventu- In récognition of his contributions to rewith Fraser (Conners 1972), who added the solution of the cereal rust problem, to the list in 1931 (Fraser 1931). Thus, by and of his outstanding work on the native the time the Dominion Rust Laboratory

57 was established in Winnipeg, Fraser, to- REFERENCES gether with Conners, had identified and listed most of the rusts of the Prairies. Anonymous. 1912. Pictou Advocate, July 20, 1912. p. 12. It is impossible tojudgejust how much Fraser influenced the work in that new Anonymous. 1916. Annual Report Secretary of Agriculture, Nova Scotia, for 1915. p. 30. Rust Laboratory but it must hâve been substantial, because many of the early Anonymous. 1925. National Research Council research staff there, including D.L. Bailey, Report for 1924-25. p. 19-20. I.L. Conners, J.H. Craigie, T. Johnson, Arthur,J.C. 1910. Culturesof Urediniaein 1909. Margaret Newton, and J.E. Machacek, Mycology 2: 213-240. were either his former students or re­ Bisby, G.R., and I.L Conners. 1928. Plant dis­ search associâtes. eases new to Manitoba. Sci. Agric. 8: 456- 458. Fraser was never a self aggrandizing Bisby, G.R., A.H.R. Buller, J. Dearness, W.P. person, nevertheless his knowledge of Fraser, and R.C. Russell. 1938. The fungi of plant pathology, especially the diseases Manitoba and Saskatchewan. 189 pp. of grasses, was widely recognized. He Conners, I.L. 1972. Plant pathology in Canada. served for several years as a member of p. 16. the Associate Committee on Field Crop Craigie, J.H. 1927. Discovery of the function of Diseasesofthe National Research Council the pycnia of the rust fungi. Nature 120: of Canada and the Dominion Department 765-767. of Agriculture. He was elected Président Craigie,J.H. 1944. William PollockFraser 1867- of the Canadian Division of the American 1943. Can. Field Nat. 58: 1-3. Phytopathological Society, 1922-23, and Estey, R.H. 1987. Margaret Newton: Distin­ thus became the Canadian Représentati­ guished Canadian scientist and first wo- ve on the Council of that Society. He was man memberof the Québec Society forthe a charter member of both the Canadian Protection of Plants. Phytoprotection 68: Phytopathological Society and the Cana­ 79-85. dian Society of Technical Agriculturists Fraser, W.P. 1912a. Cultures of some heteroe- (theforerunneroftheAgriculturalInstitute cious rusts. Mycologia 4: 175-193. of Canada), and an elected Fellow of the Fraser, W.P. 1912b. The économie importance American Association for the Advance- of land birds. Annu. Rep. Que. Soc. Prot. ment of Science. He was elected Vice- Plants 4: 44-55. Président 1929-1931 and Président 1931- Fraser, W.P. 1913. The rusts of Nova Scotia. 1933, of the Canadian Phytopathological Trans. N.S. Inst. Sci. 12: 313-445. Society, which made him an Honorary Fraser, W.P. 1917. Over-winteringoftheapple- Member (Craigie 1944). scab fungus. Science 46: 280-282. Fraser, W.P. 1920. A smut of western rye grass. With the death of William Pollock Fra­ Phytopathology 10: 316 (Abstract). ser on 23 November 1943, Canadian bota- Fraser, W.P. 1923. Report of the field laborato­ nists, especially the mycologists and ry of plant pathology at Saskatoon, in co­ plant pathologists among them, lost one opération with the University of Saskat­ of their most distinguished native sons. chewan, and the field laboratory ai: Indian Head for 1922. Page 46 In Report of the Dominion Botanist for 1922. See also Fra­ ser's reports each year from 1919 to 1925. e ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Fraser, W.P. 1924. «Take-all» of wheat in wes­ 00 tern Canada. Phytopathology 14: 347 (Ab­ r« stract). O The author is indebted to Dr. Charles A. Fraser, W.P. 1931. Additions to the Uredinales P Armour, University Archivist, for provi- ofthe prairie provinces of Canada.Trans. R. LJJ ding photocopies ofDalhousie University Soc. Can. Ser. 3 25: 85-92. O senate minutes pertaining to Fraser's de- Fraser, W.P., and G.A. Ledingham. 1929. Stu- £ grées, and to Lloyd G. White of Pictou, dies on the sedge rust, Puccinia caricis- P N.S., for copies of newspaper clippings, shepherdiae. Mycologia 21: 86-89. J birth and marriage records, etc. The pho- Fraser, W.P., and G.A. Ledingham. 1933. Stu- °- tograph of Fraser is by courtesy of Uni­ dies of the crown rust, Puccinia coronata versity of Saskatchewan Archives. Corda. Sci. Agric. 13: 313-323.

58 Fraser, W.P., and R.C. Russell. 1937. List of the flowering plants, ferns and fern allies in Saskatchewan. Mimeographed. 46 pp. Fraser, W.P., and P.M. Simmonds. 1923. Co­ opérative experiments with copper carbo­ nate dust and other substances for smut control. Sci. Agric. 3: 297-302. Johnson,T. 1961. Rust research in Canada and related plant-disease investigations. Can. Dep. Agric. Publ. 1098. 69 pp. MacKay, A. H. 1908. Fungi of Nova Scotia: First supplementary list. Trans. N.S. Inst. Sci. 12: 119-138. Simmonds, P.M. 1939. A review of the investi­ gations conducted in Western Canada on rootdiseasesofcereals. Sci. Agric. 19:565- 582. Taft,M. 1984. lnsidethesegreystonewalls:An anecdotal history of the University of Sas­ katchewan. University of Saskatchewan Press, Saskatoon. 230 pp. Vanterpool,T.C. 1944. William Pollock Fraser, 1867-1943. Mycologia 36: 313-317. Vanterpool, T.C. 1947. Flax diseases in Sas­ katchewan. Annu. Rep. Dep. Agric. Sask. 207 pp.