PLANT DISEASES. 69 



CHAPTER V. 



PLANT DISEASES. 



The importance of extended and continuous research into 

 the numerous pests which annually take such heavy toll of 

 the farmer and gardener needs no emphasis. This chapter will 

 therefore be confined to a brief account of the steps that are 

 being taken to deal with the problem, and in the first place an 

 outline of the general scheme in operation in the country may be 

 given. An Institute for Research into Plant Diseases has been 

 established at Rothamsted, its primary purpose being to study 

 fundamental principles which affect more or less the whole 

 realm of plant disease investigation. In addition, it may study 

 groups of pests, such as the Aphids, which attack most crops to 

 a greater or less degree. Normally, however, research into 

 specific pests — which are often especially prevalent in certain 

 well-defined areas — devolves upon the Plant Disease Advisers 

 attached to Agricultural Colleges and University Departments 

 of Agriculture. These Advisers, in the course of their work 

 amongst farmers and gardeners in their areas, are brought into 

 direct contact with the diseases causing most damage, and in so 

 far as the limited time at their disposal permits thej/ investigate 

 the diseases and attempt to devise methods of prevention and 

 cure. The Research Institute and the Advisers work in conjunc- 

 tion with the staff of the Ministry's Pathological Laboratory, 

 which forms a " clearing house " for all questions relating to insect 

 and fungus pests. These three units, with the addition from the 

 administrative point of view of the Ministry's Horticulture Inspec- 

 torate, form the Plant Disease Service of the country. Pests 

 affecting glasshouse crops, such as cucumbers and tomatoes, are 

 investigated at the Cheshunt Experimental and Research Station 

 (Nursery and Market Garden Industries' Development Society, 

 Ltd.). This Station is situated in a district containing approxi- 

 mately 1,000 acres of glasshouses, and its research work on the 

 cultivation and manuring of tomatoes and cucumbers, and the 

 pests to which they are subject, is, we believe, much appreciated 

 by the growers in the locahty, and its influence is extending 

 elsewhere. Finally, where a disease is causing widespread damage 

 and its investigation is a matter of time and expense beyond 

 the scope of an Adviser, a grant of money may be made to enable 

 a specialist at some other centre to prosecute the necessary 

 research. 



