In your magazine recently, page 18, Prof. T. J. Burrill, of Champaign, Illinois, is credited as being the first person in this country to discover the cause of what is known as pear-leaf blister. In his article on that subject quoted in your magazine, Prof. Burrill says: "A wide-spread disease of pear leaves in this country and in Europe, is caused by a mite, to which Scheuten, a German naturalist, gave the name of Typhlo-dromus pyri. This was twenty-one years ago. Ignorant of this information the writer during the last season, 1879, rediscovered the cause of this disease, and, it is believed, first announced its occurrence in this country".

The following extract from the Annual Report of the Department of Agriculture for the year 1872, page 113, will clearly demonstrate that I made the discovery Prof. Burrill claims as early as May, 1872: