69. 
crops. Most important therefore, of all the means of com- 
batting this disease are the measures taken to prevent the 
spores,of the fungus reaching and infecting the soil. It 
would seem to be obvious to anyone who has observed the 
damage this disease can cause, that the greatest care ought 
to be taken to collect and destroy by burning all diseased 
roots. Again and again this disease occurs both in fields 
and gardens, and in almost every case diseased roots can 
be seen left lying about, to rot and infect the land. Quite 
recently the writer watched a farmer carting the least 
diseased portion of a crop of swedes, scarcely a root of 
which had escaped attack. The most badlv diseased 
plants, already putrid and rotten, were being left in heaps — 
to rot on the field, and then doubtless would be ploughed 
into the soil. In such cases not only does the soil of the 
field or part of the garden where diseased plants were 
grown become infected, but the fungus is carried on the 
boots of workers, on tools, or if, as so frequentlv happens, 
diseased roots are thrown on to the rubbish heap to rot, 
the disease ultimately gets spread over the whole field or 
garden. Diseased turnips are fed to animals, and though 
there is no direct evidence, it is quite possible that the 
spores pass uninjured through the bodies of the animals 
and return to the soil in farmyard manure. The greatest 
care ought to be exercised to destroy all diseased material. 
Burning is the safest plan or, failing that. it should be 
ponorest into a heap and thoroughly mixed with quick- 
me. 
The Club-Root disease has becn noticed to be par- 
ticularly abundant on soils which are badly drained, at all 
sour, or deficient in lime; the disease is practically 
unknown in chalky or limestone soils. As direct methods 
of treatment therefore, the drainage of the soil should be 
improved, and a most drastic system of “ liming ” adopted. 
Wherever the disease has been prevalent it is best to treat 
the ground immediately with freshly slacked quicklime at 
the rate of $ to 1 cwt. per square rod, spreading it evenly 
over the ground and digging it in. Freshly prepared 
guicklime is much better for this purpose than ground 
lime, which varies considerably in the amount of active 
quicklime which it contains. Gas lime, though valuable 
as an insecticide, is a poor substitute for quicklime, since 
it contains a much smaller proportion of active lime than 
either of the other forms. 
