239 
according to Dr. Russell, in proportion as the salt is naturally calcareous, 
qr purely silicious. In the latter case a deficiency of basic material 
would very like = bring about an excess of copper sulphate as a residue. 
ere is also another question involved, and that is, that the use of 
acid copper solutions might act injuriously by destroying the nitrifying 
the plants on only are treated with the copper solutions and the 
haulms and all rotted or diseased tubers are immediately removed 
the land or burned at the time of cropping, eem precautions might in 
themselves be sufficient to keep the disease in check. It would appear 
to be essential, however, that the present din of continuous culti- 
vation of potatoes on the same land, year after year, should be discontinued, 
The steps taken to procure fresh supplies of good seed potatoes for 
planting are very important, and deserve to be encouraged in every 
way. 
1 
Inp1A OrricE to ROYAL GARDENS, Kew. 
India Office, Whitehall, S.W., 
Sr, 17th September 1892. 
I am directed by the Secretary of State for India to forward 
herewith for your information, and publication in the Kew Bulletin, 
if considered advisable, a note by t the Director of Land Records and 
Agriculture, Bombay, on the potato disease prevalent in the Poona 
district and elsewhere in that Presidency. 
am, &c. : 
The Director, (Signed) -Horace WALPOLE. 
Royal Gardens, Kew. 
. Nore on the Porato DISEASE i Moa in the Poona DISTRICT 
: and elsewher ; 
^ In January last year a potato disease was brought to notice affecting 
the erop of the Khed and Junnar Tálukas, which largely supply the 
Poona and Bombe markets. It has since been found elsewhere in the 
P district, in Gujarat, and at t e MÀ It seems to have 
its first a Ap peu nce some three or four years ago, = it now 
‘oceupies the chief potato grounds of the e Presidency, causing heavy loss 
to cultivators, and a marked deterioration of quality in the potatoes sold 
for consumption. 
The cultivators call this the “ bángdi ” disease, owing to the appear- 
ance of a dark ring easily visible in the substance of the tuber on section, 
Unsound and (apparently) sound potatoes are found in the same field, 
but — kiere. crop is in such cases probably affected. The first outward 
s a withering of the green top, with arrest of the growth 
the seen "The diseased crop when dug i is found to be greatly undersized 
throughout ; many tubers are rotten and putrid ; others n "d a smal 
livid spot, where putrescence is about to set in. The whole potatoes 
are eatable when fresh, but rot away in storage. 
2. During the past season, potatoes were impo orted from Mahábalesh- 
var, Saharanpur, Bangalore, Ootacamun d,* and England, and were 

. * The disease has made its appeararce in the eoa ame am The seed importi 
was of a kidney potato, which at Ootacamund had been found best to 
ion. 
c2 
