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diseases, and to publish that information in the Bulletin. I do 

 not know from that point of view that there is any special 

 necessity for the appointment of a Committee by this Congress, 

 unless it is the case that possibly, as Mr. Rogers has said, 

 hitherto the conditions of plant diseases in tropical countries, 

 where the number of educated and intelligent people is com- 

 paratively small, have naturally not had the same attention paid 

 to them as has been the case in more advanced countries. 

 Possibly it might be advisable for this Congress to draw the 

 special attention of the Institute at Rome to those diseases 

 which affect plants in tropical countries, and to those particular 

 conditions which are found in tropical countries, and which are 

 not existent to such an extent in countries in the temperate 

 regions, where, generally speaking, there is a larger expert 

 staff and a much more intelligent population to deal with. 

 . Mr. A. G. L. ROGERS, in replying to the discussion, said : 

 Mr. Chairman A proposal, I gather, has been made for 

 appointing a Committee to consider what can be done towards 

 unifying and simplifying the regulations at present in force in 

 tropical countries, and it is pointed out that one of the great 

 difficulties is that no country is really quite certain as to the 

 efficiency of the staff of other countries, and as to the value of 

 the certificates which are given. If I may suggest to this 

 Committee, if it be formed, a plan of procedure, I should like 

 to propose that they should begin with perhaps twenty, per- 

 haps thirty, of the more important diseases affecting different 

 plants, perhaps the most important plants; that they should set 

 to work to procure a survey of all the more important 

 countries, so that an estimate can be prepared for each country 

 stating the 'amount of a particular disease which occurs in that 

 country, and indicating what the prevalence of the disease is, 

 what is the seriousness of the injury, and how far the disease is 

 spreading from year to year. That will be the first means of 

 finding out not only how far these diseases are spreading, but 

 what is the value of the certificates given by other countries. 

 It is a somewhat similar plan to that which we have adopted in 

 the temperate countries. In England, for instance, we have 

 a regular system by which certain diseases are under inspection, 

 and a map is produced every year showing exactly the amount 

 of that particular disease in each county in England. Very 

 much the same sort of thing is done under the Berne Conven- 

 tion relating to phylloxera; very much the same thing is done 

 now with regard to certain other diseases in temperate countries, 

 and 1 every year more and more progress is being made in that 

 direction. It is only by making first a careful survey of the 

 diseases in your own country, and publishing its results to the 

 rest of the world, that y<3u can ever get the confidence of other 



