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timia 885/26
UL KALFRQduled PHOTOGRAPHIC-
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE
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will be the first side of the Bureau to require strengthening if its finances permit of expansion in future. Parcels of specimens were received for identification from sixteen Dominions and Colonies. Amongst the more interesting new records were the "pink disease" (due to Corticium salmonicolor) on coffee from Kenya and the boll rot of cotton, due to Rhizopus nigricans following insect punctures, from Queensland. The latter was the cause of serious loss in the very promising new cotton plantations in Queensland, but is believed to be primarily an entomological problem as the fungus does not seem to be able to attack any bolls except those previously injured by insects.
Very interesting cultures of the fungus which causes citrus scab were received from Pretoria and identified as a species of Sporotrichum allied to the forms which are parasitic on man. This is believed to be only the second occasion on which an allied form to the animal parasites of this genus has been found on plants, and the resemblance is much more striking than in the previous record on peaches in Italy. Further work on the fungus is being carried out in South Africa.
Amongst the entomogenous fungi received was one on Noctuids from South Africa which proved to be Botrytis rileyi, an almost forgotten species known from the Caribbean and Southern United States. Séveral other interesting species on various insects were received from the Gold Coast and Fiji.
Perhaps the most important specimen received during the half-year was a banana plant from the Canaries suffering from a disease which is causing some concern in that area. The apparent cause was successfully isolated, and "unfor- tunately there is reason to fear that the plant was affected by the dreaded Panama disease, which has caused enormous losses in the West Indies and Central America. but has not hitherto been reported elsewhere except in the Philippines. Cultures have been sent to the United States and West Indies for comparison with authentic cultures of Fusarium cubense, the cause of Panama disease, but no reply has as yet been received, A second banana disease from the same area was found to be caused by Thielaviopsis paradoxa, which appears to be a rare parasite on this plant.
The withertip disease of limes in Dominica caused increasing damage this season, and the Bureau continues to be consulted regarding the measures proposed for coping with the epidemic. Cultures of fungi causing foot and root rot of wheat, with literature on these diseases, were sent to New South Wales and South Africa; information regarding the obscure yellow tip disease of oats to Canada; information and samples for trial of some new German mercury seed-disinfectants to New Zealand; and cultures, literature references, translations, and abstracts to a number of inquirers. Named specimens for our collections were received from Ceylon, the Gold Coast, and India.
The card index of parasitic fungi maintained by the Federal Horticultural Board in Washington has grown to such dimensions since the Director saw it in 1921 that the sum of £200 voted by the Committee for copying it would be insufficient to cover the whole index. As it did not seem justifiable to suggest the expenditure of a larger sum, it was arranged that only certain sections of it will be copied. The last remittance of £50 made since the end of the half-year completes the expenditure under this head except for carriage of the cards to Kew, which can be met from the ordinary "general" grant.
Amongst overseas mycologists who worked at the Bureau during the half-year may be mentioned Mr. G. Samuel of Adelaide University, Mr. F. Snell, Mycologist to the Department of Agriculture, Trinidad, and Mr. R. H. Bunting, Assistant Director for Research, Gold Coast. Mr. D. N. Mahta, an Indian student from Oxford, also spent a considerable time at the Bureau during the autumn.
The representation of the Bureau at the International Conference of Phyto pathology and Economic Entomology, referred to at the last meeting of the Managing Committee, was undertaken by Mr. Cotton, whose report is appended (Appendix III).
The Director was nominated as one of the British delegates to the Pan-Pacific Science Congress held in Australia in July and August last, and was kindly per- mitted by the Managing Committee to accept the nomination. A sum of £250 was contributed by the Treasury to cover the cost of the journey. In conjunction with Dr. G. A. K. Marshall, Director of the Imperial Bureau of Entomology, who was also nominated as one of the British delegates, the proposal was made that the tour should be extended to allow of visiting Canada, Hawaii, Fiji, and New Zealand. the additional cost, not exceeding £100, being borne by the Bureau. The actual
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additional cost was £84 18s. 9d., but a refund of £9 2s. 8d. is anticipated, leaving the net cost £75 16s. 1d. Detailed accounts will be submitted when this matter of the refund is settled. The following is a brief report on the tour by the Director.
I left London with Dr. Marshall on the 13th June, arrived in New York on the 19th and in Ottawa on the 20th, left Vancouver on the 29th, arrived in Auck- land (New Zealand) on the 20th July, left from the same port on the 3rd August, arrived in Sydney on the 7th, left Fremantle on the 25th September, and arrived in London on the 24th October.
Of the ten days available in Canada, three and a-half were spent in Vancouver, one and a-half in Ottawa, and one in Winnipeg, the rest being occupied in travelling.
In
Most of the mycological work in Canada is carried out by the staff of the Dominion Botanist, Dr. H. Güssow, who is an officer of the Dominion Department of Agriculture with headquarters at the Central Experimental Farm outside Ottawa. Some of this staff are at Ottawa, others are stationed in the different provinces with laboratories at St. Catherines, Ontario (which I visited in 1921), Fredricton (New Brunswick), Charlottetown (Prince Edward Island), Saskatoon and Indian Head (Saskatchewan) and Summerland (British Columbia). addition, certain of the Provinces maintain their own plant pathologists who are attached to the provincial departments of agriculture and are not under the Dominion Botanist. In British Columbia, for instance, the Provincial Plant Pathologist, Mr. J. W. Eastham, is stationed in Vancouver and is engaged chiefly on diseases of field crops and small fruits and in the inspection of plant imports suspected to be liable to introduce diseases, while the Dominion officer, Mr. H. R. McLarty, is stationed at Summerland, over 200 miles away, and works chiefly on the diseases of pomaceous fruits. Furthermore, some of the Universities and Colleges are carrying on investigations on the cause and prevention of plant diseases. In Winnipeg the University Professor of Botany (Dr. Buller) and the Professor of Plant Pathology at the Manitoba Agricultural College (Dr. Bisby, late a member of the staff of our Bureau) are both engaged in research and experimental work on cereal and other crop diseases, and similar work is in progress at Macdonald College, Quebec, and the University of Toronto. During my visit I was able to see something of the work of the Dominion pathologists at Ottawa, of the Winnipeg Agricultural College, and of the Provincial Pathologist at Vancouver, besides two long journeys by car to see some of the fruit diseases of British Columbian orchards. In New Zealand, where a fortnight was spent, mycological work is chiefly in the hands of the Department of Agriculture, the Mycologist, Mr. G. H. Cunning- ham, being stationed with an assistant at Wellington. There is also a mycologist, Dr. Kathleen Curtis, on the staff of the Cawthron Institute, a privately endowed agricultural research institute at Nelson in the South Island. Both are engaged on important research work, and the former is also carrying out a detailed systematic study of New Zealand fungi, on which practically no work had been done for many years prior to his appointment. Other members of the Department of Agriculture are also interested in plant pathology, and there is close co-operation between the laboratory and field staffs. No work on our subject is being done at the University or Colleges. There was ample opportunity to see the work of the Department during our visit, and to get into personal touch with the staff.
In Australia, where we spent forty-eight days, there is no Federal Department of Agriculture, each State of the Commonwealth having its own Department, usually with a branch for plant pathology. The Commonwealth Institute of Science and Industry is, however, preparing to undertake certain specialized inquiries into the diseases of plants. In addition, certain of the Universities, notably those of Sydney and Adelaitle, are doing useful research and experimental work in plant pathology. During the meetings of the Congress at Melbourne and Sydney from the 13th August to the 3rd September, I was able to discuss fully the work in progress on plant diseases in the Departments of Agriculture of Victoria and New South Wales and in the University of Sydney. A field trip was arranged at the end of the Congress to enable the plant pathologists and a group of entomo- logists, botanists, and agricultural members to visit the Northern Rivers area of New South Wales, especially the sugar-cane and banana plantations. For the first three days of this trip we were the guests of the Colonial Sugar Refining Company, whose plant pathologist, Mr. D. S. North, is a leading authority on the sugar-cane diseases of Australia and Fiji. Another day was given to a field examination of the "bunchy top " disease of bananas, a mysterious affection which is exterminating