LAMSONSCRIBNER,FRANK - BOTANIST AND PIONEER PLANT PATHOLOGIST IN THE UNITED-STATES

Frank Lamson-Scribner, in 1885, became the first scientist commissione d by the United States Department of Agriculture with the responsibili ty to study diseases of economic plants. His innovative approach estab lished the foundation for applied plant pathology at the USDA. In an e arly international cooperative effort in plant pathology, he detailed the life history of the grape black rot pathogen. His early studies wi th the Bordeaux mixture introduced the American farmer to the modern e ra of chemical control. Scribner became the botanist and director of t he University of Tennessee Agricultural Experiment Station. He publish ed the first book written on the subject of plant diseases in the Unit ed States, and described a new nematode disease of potato. He asserted that the practical value of plant pathology to farmers would only fol low meticulous studies of the life history of pathogens.