116 



ME. JENSEN AND THE POTATO DISEASE. 



Mr. Charles B. Plowright made some observations upon the various experi- 

 ments made by Mr. Jensen in Denmark, with the object of mitisjating the ravages 

 of the potato disease, which appeared to have been attended with satisfactory re- 

 sults. They were conducted by a protective system of culture, consisting of giving 

 the Potato plants a second or protective moulding when the first disease blotch is 

 seen upon the foliage, so that the uppermost tubers have a i)rotection of 5 inches 

 of earth over them, at the same time bending the tops so that they hang over the 

 furrows in a half-erect manner ; the object being to protect the tubers, by a layer 

 of earth, from the spores of the parasitic fungus which causes the disease. When 

 moulded up in the ordinary way the covering of earth over the uppermost tubers 

 is not, as a rule, more than IJ or 2 inches. Upon this important field of research, 

 we may expect shortly to receive an extended account from Mr. Plowright's pen. 



Mr. Plowright also made some observations drawn from his further researches 

 on the Uredines, since the publication of his paper on page 134 of Woolhope 

 Transactions, of 1881. 



[The following extracts, recently published in The Gardeners'' Chronicle are of 

 sufficient interest to be here reproduced by the permission of the Editor of that 

 paper.] 



WHEAT MILDEW. 



Whilk working at the connection of Wheat mildew with the Barberry ^cidium,* 

 I came across a reference in De Bary's papers to the fact, that in America this 

 subject had been at one time made the object of legislation in that country. 

 Being anxious to find out if possible the exact nature of such legislation, I applied 

 to my friend Professor Farlow, of Harvard University. He instituted inquiries, 

 and has just sent me a copy of the law in question, which he obtained from Pro- 

 fessor Ames of the law school of that University. It is very interesting to find, 

 that more than a century ago the farmers of the great western continent came to 

 so decided an opinion upon this subject as a matter of practical experience, and 

 forthwith framed a law bearing upon it. For the benefit of those interested I 

 have appended a copy of this la,w.— Charles B. Plowright, King's Lynn, Dec. S3, 



1882. 



Province Laws of Massachusetts, 1736-1761, p. 153. 



" Anno Regis Georgii II., Vicesimo Octavo chap. x. (published January 13, 1755). 



" An Act to prevent damage to English grain arising from Barberry bushes. 



" Whereas it has been found by experience, that the blasting of Wheat and other English 



*See Woolhope Transactions, p. ii8, t88i 



