102 



\]<\>]\ (i AKDKM NG. 



o( the four pro\ iiiccs, why not tlicii wiiitoi 

 schools in horticulture for the technical traininj,' 

 of younij- i,'-ardeners ? Perhaps there is not a 

 demand for such classes. On the other haiui, 

 if there /.v a desire, and it i emains inarticulate, 

 ue are afraid nothinj,^ will he ilone until the 

 want fuids expression from the lips ot the 

 ^^ardeners themselves. We sug'j,'"est that the 

 diflferent horticultural societies in Ireland lake 

 this matter up and devise some scheme whereby 

 the Irish ^ardenint,'- youth be g-ixen the same 

 educational advantages as the young IJritisher, 

 whose technical training is being so well looked 

 after by his county educational authorities. 

 Will the council o\' our l\o\;iI Horticultural 

 Society give an inspiring lead to an educational 

 movement in this country ? This old society 

 seems to us to be the right and proper body to 

 take the lead — nay, more, we expect it to lead. 

 The council of the Knglish Royal Horticul- 

 tural Society were pioneers in this particular 

 work. It formulated a scheme oi' instruction, 

 issued a syllabus of subjects, instituted a 

 system of examination, and so furnished the 

 plan upon which the technical instruction com- 

 mittees modelled their horticultural teaching. 



Will the Royal Horticultural Society of 

 Ireland do for this country what their English 

 sister society did, and is still doing, for Great 

 Britain ? Will they take up the subject 

 seriously and start a vigorous campaign for 

 the education of public opiiuon upon the 

 technical training of the gardener. Authori- 

 tative representations ought to be made to 

 all the technical boards in Ireland with the 

 view of making a start during the forth- 

 coming winter months. We are in dead earnest 

 over this matter, as we know how vitally 

 it affects the progress of horticulture in this 

 country. 



^* ^^ e^^ 



American Blight 



American blight, if it makes its appearance on fruit 

 trees, oug-ht to be dealt with effectively and at once. 

 A swab of cotton wool, tied to the end of a cane, and 

 made wet with methylated spirit, is an excellent thing 

 to use in cases where the attack is only here and there. 

 If the wetted swab be rubbed into the woolly spot it will 

 destroy the little colony of aphides that are responsible 

 for the damage. Methylated spirit is safer to use than 

 paraffin oil, which is frequently recommended. If the 

 attack is widespread, then spra}ing with a good insec- 

 ticide must be resorted to in order to free the trees from 

 the pest. 



Potato Disease. 



Al.rilOrGH the potato blight has made its 

 appearance in oiu" fields each reciu-renl 

 siunincr fov more than sixtv ve.'irs it is 

 not \et known with cerlaint\- how the pest 

 regenerates itscii aiul gains a permanent footing 

 in the new crop. I'oi many years it was taken 

 almost as settled that the \ ery rapid spreading 

 so characteristic of the disease coidd best be 

 accounted fo'- i\\ the scattering of the foliage of 

 healthy plants, b\ means of wind and other 

 agencies, ol the delicate simimer "spores." 

 These ' ' spores" may be found in \ ery great abun- 

 dance on the discoloured patches o\\ the untler- 

 surface of diseased leaves. Further, it has been 

 proved boNond any doubt that they can infect a 

 healthy plant with the disease, provided the 

 conditions of moisture and warmth are favour- 

 able. Vet, in spite of the presence of such an 

 obvious and successful means ot reproduction, 

 Massee* has recently propounded a new theory 

 to account for the apparently sudden appearance 

 of blight over large areas. 



The theory is based on an experiment carried 

 out with potatoes in pots in a greenhoiLse. 

 .Short 1\- summarised it was as follows : — 

 Three tubers which contained the blight 

 fimgus were cut in hah es, and each part was 

 planted in a tlower pot. Three of the pots were 

 placed in a hot-house where the air was very 

 moist, and the other three in a cool, dry house. 

 The lot kept at a high temperature were all 

 killed by blight two months after planting, 

 while at that time those grown at the lower 

 temperature were healthy. Subsequently two 

 of the latter healthy plants were removed to 

 the warm house, and there they also succumbed 

 to the disease. The third plant was left in the 

 cool house, and it remained healthy to the end 

 ot the experiment. 



To explain these facts the experimenter 

 elaborated his theory of dormant mycelium and 

 direct mycelial infection. According to this 

 hypothesis the three plants grown in the warm 

 house contracted the blight from mycelium 

 which grew through the stem from the set to 

 the foliage. That this may happen with jyou/ig 

 plants such as were used in this experiment is 

 fairly generally allowed ; and the explanation 



*" Diseases of Cultivated Plants and Trees." 

 London : Duckworth & Co. 



