290 ENGLISH ESTATE FORESTRY 



another, announced with a flourish of trumpets, put to the 

 test, found wanting, and thrown aside as useless. Yet, in 

 spite of all the attention that has been directed to it, and all 

 the research that has been spent upon it, the disease still 

 remains as great a mystery as ever, so far as the incidence 

 of attack is concerned. 



We believe the first accurate diagnosis of the disease 

 in this country was made by the Eev. M. J. Berkley in the 

 pages of the Gardener's Chronicle in 1859. It had been 

 noticed earlier in Germany as a disease associated with 

 fungus, and the first scientist to classify it was Wilkomm 

 under the name of Corticium amorphum, but Hartig subse- 

 quently proved it to be a distinct species. In 1860 a small 

 book entitled The Larch Disease was written by Charles 

 M'Intosh. The greater part of the book is taken up in 

 describing various theories on the " disease," by which " heart- 

 rot " is referred to, and not blister. That this is so we 

 cannot but conclude, from the following extract from 

 M'Intosh' s book : 



"There is another form of disease prevalent in many 

 parts of the country which assumes somewhat the appear- 

 ance of gum and canker in fruit trees. First one branch 

 gives way and then another, and at the points of union 

 of such branches with the trunk a blackish liquid issues. 

 The ascent of the sap seems to be impeded, and the 

 alburnum is dispersed in rather large quantities on each 

 side of the affected part, which gives the trunk a very gouty 

 appearance." 



M'Intosh states that two of his correspondents informed 

 him that the ulcerous disease appeared in the plantations at 

 Drumlanrig and Netherby Hall exactly at the same period, 

 namely, in 1845, "a year remarkable for atmospheric epi- 

 demics the potato disease, for instance." 



In 1882 Michie published his Larch, and dealt with 

 the larch disease. He believed that it originated chiefly in 

 late frosts and badly ripened wood, due to cold, wet soils 

 or overcrowding, and considered that the disease was most 

 prevalent in the south of Scotland and north of England. 



The first complete description of the life-history of the 

 fungus in the English language was given by Professor 



