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Mycological Section.—Designed to furnish information
respecting the DISEASES of field and garden crops
caused by the attacks of parasitic fungi. In sending
samples of diseased plants for investigation state when
the disease was first received, whether abundant or not
and to what extent it is injurious, also facts relative to the
nature of the soil, kind of fertilizers used and system of
culture pursued. If the diseased portion be the leaves
these had best be dried under light pressure between the
folds of a newspaper or in a book previous to sending.
Grains and the stems of plants (only a fragment of the
diseased part) may be rolled in paper and enclosed in an
envelope. Tubers and fleshy roots should be made as
dry as possible and sent wrapped in paper. Vegetables
in partial decay may be packed in saw-dust and forwarded
by mail or express, prepaid.

United States Department of Agriculture,
Division of Botany,
Washington, D. C. June 28th 1885

Prof. C. E. Bessey,
Dear Sir:–

The chief of this Division — Dr.
Vasey — has directed me to undertake the
study of fungi, with the view of investigating
those species that more or less seriously affect
field and garden crops. I shall be very glad
to receive form you any suggestions or comments
relative to this subject that you
may be pleased to communicate. If you
will kindly draw up a plan of operations
that will, in your opinion, make the work
most effective, you will confer a great
favor. I desire the aid and cooperation of
the mycologists of the country, as I deem
this essential to the accomplishment of
valuable results. They all know that my
studies for sometime past hav been
in another direction — that of grasses