TULIP-KOOT. 



101 



Prevention and Kemedies. — Two practicable measures 

 of prevention of recurrence of " Tulip-root " on infested land 

 are to avoid crops that can be affected in the rotation, and to 

 give deep ploughing; many of the Eelworms leave the plants 

 as they die or dry from maturing, and lie in the upper 

 surface of the soil ; and if they are well turned down, much 

 of the infestation will be got rid of.* 



" The surest remedy for worm-sick fields is stated by 

 Dr. Julius Kuhn, Director of the Agricultural Institute of 

 the University of Halle, Germany, to consist in late ploughnig, 

 sixteen or eighteen inches deep.t By this treatment the 

 upper layer of earth with the contained Anguillulida is buried 

 deep, and is covered with a full spade's depth of the under 

 soil. The treatment must be carried out in autumn, and in 

 the next spring cultivation, rich manure given to the crop. It 

 is most desirable that this should not be of stable manure, 

 which it is very possible may contain Eelworms, but rather 

 of guano and superphosphate. Carrots and Potatoes suc- 

 ceed best in the late-ploughed land. . Should, notwithstanding, 

 the worm-disease appear again at the same places in the 

 fields, the spots should be dug anew deeply, two spades deep ; 

 we can also prevent the spread of these wormlets by isolating, 

 by means of a trench of a foot and a half deep and a foot 

 across." — (J. K.) 



With regard to different methods in which the wormlet in- 

 fection may be spread, it is shown by Dr. Kuhn that one way 

 is in earth from infested fields. This is shown by an instance 

 in which a man, to mark his disbelief in the possibility of such 

 transmission, had earth from Eelworm-infected land spread on 

 what was clean before, and thus set up attack. It is also noted 

 that the infection may be spread in earth carried from infested 

 land (that is, by earth adhering to agricultural implements, 

 to the hoofs of horses employed on the foul land, or to the 

 shoes of the agricultural labourers).! 



This kind of Stem-eelworm possesses enormous^ vital 

 powers, and may be passed through an animal feeding on 

 infested fodder without being injured by processes of diges- 

 tion. Also, if kept in a dry state, even for several years, 

 these Tijlenchi will regain their vital powers on being 



* This has been observed to happen in the case of stem-sick Eye by 

 Dr. Eitzema Bos; and as the habits of the wormlet and its eti'ects were 

 precisely similar in its attacks on Oats, it is presumable that this happens also 

 in the case of Tulip-root attack. 



f A moderate depth of ploughing, such as can be carried out with a plough 

 with skim-coulter attached, will do much good if the surface-slice is well turned 

 down, as it is mainly in the surface of the land that the wormlets which have 

 left the plants lie. — E. A. 0. 



+ See the work ' Ueber die Wormkrankheit des Eoggens,' dc, von Dr. JuL 

 Kuhn, Halle, 18GU. 



