42 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



is just as repugnant to the spores of the potato -rot as it is 

 to me. 



Mt. Wethekell. I have only to say, in reply, that both 

 parts of the field were just about an even thing in their 

 growth ; so that I do not think there is any force in that sug- 

 gestion. 



Mr. W. C. Steong of Brighton. I rise, not because I pre- 

 tend to know much about mildew ; but I wish to express my 

 pleasure that Professor Farlow is to lecture on this subject. 

 I believe that he will be able to give us a good deal of infor- 

 mation, and that the members of this Board will profit very 

 much indeed, if they will remain to hear that lecture. I 

 think, after hearing that lecture, they will doubtless have 

 different opinions in regard to the potato-rot, and upon this 

 subject generally. I think it is one of the most important 

 subjects that is now arresting attention. I think that mil- 

 dew, or fungus-growth, is very much more extensive than 

 we have any idea of. It is not limited to the potato ; it is 

 not limited to the lettuce and onion, and the other things that 

 have been alluded to this afternoon ; but it extends through- 

 out the whole vegetable kingdom. We shall find that our 

 forest-trees are being injured year by year by fungi. I have 

 no doubt whatever, notwithstanding what has been said, that 

 the potato-disease is caused by a fungus, and that the blight 

 or rot of the potato comes from the same cause. I think 

 that Professor Farlow has made it clear almost to demonstra- 

 tion that the two are connected, and are caused by parasitic 

 growth. The more recent investigations, in regard not merely 

 to the vegetable kingdom, but to the animal kingdom, show 

 that fungi are the cause of disease and death, not only in the 

 vegetable, but in the animal kingdom. The germ-theory of 

 disease has now become an accepted theory; and Ave are 

 inclined to believe that most of the contagious diseases to 

 which humanity is exposed are caused by fungus, vegetable 

 growths. 



So far as I have had experience with fungus-growths, I 

 have found that sulphuric-acid gas is almost a sovereign rem- 

 edy. In the green-house the use of sulphur in various forms, 

 dissolved in lime, or in the form of a mild gas, — that is, not 

 sulphuric-acid gas, but the mildest form, — is almost a specific 

 for mildew upon grapes. It will arrest the growth of this 



