REPORT OF TilEHIEF OF THE DIVISION OF VEGE- TABLE PATHOLOGY. SIR: Ihave the honor to submit herewith my annual report for the year 1890.As heretofore, the report embodies only a brief sum- mary of the work accomplished in this Division during the year, the details having been published in various bulletins and circulars alieady issued. Respectfully, B. T. GALLOWAY, Chief of the Division of Vegetable Pathology. Hon. J. M.RUSK, Secretary. WORK OP TH DIVISION. GENERAL BUSINESS. Under this heading may be mentionedcare of correspondence, preparation of bulletins and circulars, workon the herbarium, indexing literature, and properly classifying and filing thesame. During the year nearly three thousand letterswere received and answered, this work consuming fully one third ofmy own and assist- ants' time.The writing, indexing, filing, and generalcare of the letters requires nearly the whole time of two clerks. Since my last report the Division has published, in additionto the regular annual report, one special bulletin and fournumbers ofTHE JOURNAL OF MYCOLOGY.The special bulletin contained 120 pages and embodied the results of experiments made in1889 in the treat- ment of plant diseases.TheJOURNALcontains numerous papers, both scientific and practical, andas an important means of quickly and effectively disseminating information Ican not conceive of any- thing more useful.During the year the edition was increased 500, but such has been the demand for it thatevery number butthe last is now exhausted. The general care of the herbarium requires the workof one assist- ant, while indexing, filing, and general supervision of theliterature consumes a considerable part of the time of another. The force practically remains thesame as last year, the assistants being Miss E. A. Southworth and Mr. D. G. Fairchild.Erwin F. Smith is stillin charge of the peach yellows investigationand New- ton B. Pierce of the California vine disease.Pear blight and several other diseases have received attentionat the hands of Mr. M. B. Waite 894 REPORT OF TI1E SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE. LABORATORY WORK. During the year the principal diseases under investigation in the laboratory were pear blight, a bacterial disease of oats, sweet potato diseases, anthracnose of the cotton and hollyhock, peach yellows, the California vine disease, pear scab, cherry leaf blight, grape diseases, and diseases of greenhouse plants, particularly of the carnation and violet. A new disease of the grape appeared the latter part of September in several parts of New York State. The matter was investigated by Mr. Fairchild and found to be a malady which has been known for some time in certain parts of Europe. The disease manifests itself in the form of red or purplish spots on the leaves, the latter soon becoming brown and withered, and finally falling, leaving the fruit to shrivel or else mature imperfectly.In Mr. Fairchild's report, which was published in Trn JOURNAL OF MYcoLoGY, Vol. VI, No. ,the dis. ease is fully described, its causes pointed out and suggestions made in regard to preventing it. In connection with the laboratory work on pear blight Mr. Waite visited Georgia during the months of February, March, and April, making, while there, a series of field tests with fungicides, and also collecting such data as only field investigations render possible. The work on peach yellows and the California vine disease is given more in detail under their respective headings. FIELD EXPERIMENTS. A special effort ha been put forth during the year to make the field experiments as thoroughly practical as possible.With this end in view I have spent considerable time in the fild myself and have also kept one or more of my assistants constantly engaged in work of this kind.I am more than satisfied with the results of the work, as we have been able to obtain facts which would not have been possible had we depended on field agents exclusively. I believe that to obtain the best results in practical experiments, *uch as we are conducting, we must either do the work ourselves or place it in the hands of men having a thorough knowledge of plant diseases.Such men, with possibly here and there a rare exception, re as yet to be found only in some of our experiment stations; it is by cooperation with these that we are ale to secure the ver best results at comparatively little expense to the Department an practically none to the Stations.Our cooperative work this year with the Wisconsin Station has proved eminently satisfactory, both to us and the Station, and the expense to both has been less than half what we usually pay for field agents. EXPERIMENTS NEAR WASHINGTON. This work was conducted wholly by myself and assistant, Mr. D. G-. Fairchild, the diseases under treatment being black rot of the grape, pear leaf-bliht, and pear scab. 'Ireatment ofhlacZrot of Ike qrape.For this experiment a vine- yard belonging to Capt. J. 0. terry, situated 12 miles southwest of Washington, was selected.The vineyard consisted of about one thousanä Concord vines, sixteen years old, and trained to stakes 8 feet high.It had not borne a pound of fruit for several years on flIVISION OP T]dTA13L PA0L0GT. 895 account of rot, thus furnishing the very best means of thoroughly testing the value of the fungicides. II. 521. Amn,oriiacalCo ?,arbonate. V. Untreated. 179. Iv. 18 Bordeaux mizture Copper carbonate in and animoniacal suspension. eopper Carbonate. The vineyard was divided into five plats, as shown in the accom- panying diagram.The diagram also shows the number of vines in each plat and the treatment it received.The experiment was not made to discover a remedy for black rot, for this question had been settled already.The main object of the work was to determine, if possible, (1) the best means of applying the fungicides; (2) the rela.. tive value of the fungicides mentioned in the diagram, and (3) the amount of copper found at the close of the season on fruit treated with the Bordeaux mixture.Each plat was sprayed eight times, first on May 1, and afterwards at intervals of fifteen days, except the last treatment, which was made at the expiration of twenty days. As regards vigor of vines there was considerable difference in the various plats, hence it was not expected that the yield for each division would be uniform, even if all were treated alike. In applying the fungicides three spraying machines were used, namely: the Eureka, the Japy, and Nixon's Little Giant.The Eureka and Japy pumps are of the knapsak pattern, while the Nixon is a cart machine holding 40 gallons.It is drawn by hand and is provided with two hose connections, an agitator for keeping the liquid stirred up, and 16 feet of hose.After a thorough trial of all of the machines the Little Giant was selected as the one best suited to our wants.With it we were able to treat four rows at a time, doing the work as thoroughly and rapidly as we could sprty two rows with the knapsack pumps There is no doubt that, in certain situations, such as on steep hillsides, where the vines are trellised the knapsack pumps will be found to work to the best edvantage.Also where a person has only a small vineyard, of say, not more than 3 or 4 acres, such a pump will be all that is requiredFor large vineyards horse-power machines should be used.Some of these purnps drawn by two horses and worked by two men and a boy will spray an acre of vines in thirty minutes. In all cases we used the Improved Vermorel iiozzle and lance and we can say without hesitation that for our work we have not been able to find anything better. As to the relative value of the treatments, cost, etc., a fill! account 396 REPORT, OF TIlE SECRBYFARY OF AGRICULTURE. is published in THE JOURNAL OF MYCOLOGY, Vol. VI, No. 3.I only give here some of the more important conclusions taken from this re- port.They are as follows: On Plat I, treated with Bordeaux mixture, there was saved $32. 40 worth of fruit at an expenditure of $6. 51, leaving a profitof $5. 89, or 397 per cent.On Plat II, treated with ammoniacal cop- per carbonate solution, there was saved $25. 92worth of fruit at a cost of $4. 32, leaving a profit of $21. 60, or 500 per cent.On Plat III, treated with copper carbonate in suspension, the value of the fruit saved was $6.48, the cost of treatment $2. 25, leaving a profit of $4. 23, or 188er cent.On Plat IV, treated with Bordeaux mixture and ammomacal solution, the value of the fruit saved was $19.44, the ex- pense of treatment $3. 34, leaving a profit of $16.10, or 482 percent. While the amount of fruit saved by the Bordeaux mixture was greater than that by the ammoniacal solution the latter preparation is after all the cheapest.In other words, there was more profit in using the ammoniacal solution than the Bordeaux mixture. A mixed treatment consisting of Bordeaux mixture and am- moniacal solution is more profitable than a treatment Of Bordeaux mixture alone, but not as profitable as the ammoniacal solution alone. There is nothing whatever to be gained by treating with the carbonate of copper in suspension when the ammoniacal solution is at hand. In regard to the amount of copper found on the grapes at ihe time of harvest it was shown that a person would have to eat from a ton to a ton and a half of fruit to obtain a poisonous dose of this salt.