As regards Wart Disease, after detailing its life-history and 

 referring to its prevalence in the country, Mr. Middleton observes 

 that the disease has as yet received so little study that it is not 

 possible to say much about the best means for eradicating it or 

 preventing its spread. Cases of the disease have been found in 

 Ireland, and there the Government required the destruction of all 

 the potatoes and prohibited the planting of potatoes on the infected 

 spot for a number of years. It is to be hoped that the remedy 

 will be successful, but it is clearly one which could not possibly 

 be applied in Great Britain owing to the number of infected gardens 

 and the difficulty not only of detecting disease, except at harvest 

 time, but of enforcing the prohibition for a period long enough to 

 ensure the disappearance of the infection. The remedy must ta 

 a certain extent depend on the grower, and he can always ensure 

 the desired result by planting some other crop. But owing to the 

 want of accurate knowledge of the life history of the fungus, it is- 

 clear that carefully conducted experiments must be carried out on 

 a proprer scientific plan before the cultivator can be offered the 

 sound and pratical advice he so badly needs. A number of ob- 

 servations by growers have been made, and these afford a base tor 

 subsequent experiment. The observations resolve themselves inta 

 two classes: (i) on the fungicides used as remedies for disease 

 either as curatives or preventives, and (2) on the varieties of po- 

 tatoes most liable and least liable to attack. 



The remedies tried were (i) flowers of sulphur, (2) soot, and (3) 

 lime, all of which were reported to have met wih some succes 

 in 1908 (*). 



Both in pot and garden experiments sulphur has been found 

 to keep the disease in check, even if it has not prevented it. The 

 best and most economical way to use sulphur is first to dust the 

 sets, preferably when stored in the autumn, and then to sprinkle 

 them freely with flowers of sulphur as they lie in the drills before 

 covering up. Before the plants are earthed up the soil should be 

 dusted with sulphur, to prevent the disease from attacking the 

 haulms, at the ground surface. Soot has been sprinkled on the 

 sets as they lay in the drills with some success, and two cases are 

 known where freshly slaked lime sprinkled as described above has 



(*) In the field experiments of 1909 none of these remedies were ef- 

 fective. 



