Report of the Botanist to the New York Experimental Station, January, 1886.

Nothing is more important to the horticulturist than the ascertaining of exact facts. Most of our horticultural reports are filled with discussions on which one speaker "believes" this, and another speaker " believes" that - often beliefs of as contradictory character as ever appeared in the ecclesiastical or political world. All these expressions of belief have a value in proportion to the faith the public may have in the good judgment of the speaker.

But how much better is it to have worked out for us exact facts? Then each observer may form his own belief. It is such considerations as these that give value to work such as this in which Prof. Arthur is engaged. We have in this report, minute details of his work in tracing the phenomena attending fire blight, spotting in quince fruit, rotting of tomatoes, rust and mildew in lettuce, rotting of cherries and plums, disease in clover leaf, and the fungus parasites on various weeds.

The article on the cherry and plum rot is particularly interesting, from a prevalent belief that rot only follows the puncture of the plum weevil. That it does follow the puncture of the weevil is very well known, and indeed, if rot did not follow the puncture, the mere deposition of the egg would not be so serious a matter. It is from the well-known fact that rot does follow the puncture of the curculio, that the belief prevails that it is the only cause of rot. The fungus is, of course, the cause of rot, even when punctured; because the injured tissue would naturally be the food of such fungi as feed on organic matter having a low vital power. But this is not what is meant when we say fungi is the "cause" of disease. When therefore, Prof. Arthur says the loss of cherries and plums from rot before gathered, is "almost wholly due to the attack" of Oidium fructigenum, we fear that those who held to the theory of the curculio as the exclusive cause of rot, will hardly be satisfied.

However, Prof. Arthur shows here that spores, placed on cherries free (we infer) from curculio marks, cause rot in the fruit. This is the great positive gain to horticultural science by the Professor's careful and admirable work.