1921.] Reversion of Blackcurrants. 1127 



stock. Now while nurseries in general do their best to send out 

 sound stock, cases have occurred in which reverted bushes have 

 been received from firms of established reputation. This state- 

 ment is not made in destructive criticism, for the writer is 

 fully aware of the great difficulties experienced by firms in 

 ridding their stock of traces of the disease. But the risk still 

 remains, and is proved by the fact that no firm dare give a 

 guarantee that the stock they send out is free from reversion. 

 There is also a further point to consider, that in the present 

 scarcity of nursery blackcurrants, a grower cannot alwavs 

 obtain the variety he wants. It is, therefore, important 

 that he should be in a position to propagate from his own stock, 

 if he so wishes. In such a case, he should examine his stock 

 in June and mark down individual bushes which, proved by 

 the method described above, are absolutely sound. It is 

 useless as well as dangerous to mark down blocks of bushes 

 unless every bush is inspected, because in a block that appears 

 normal there are frequently some which on closer examination 

 show a trace of the disease. It is best to be on the safe side by 

 using only those that are beyond suspicion. Such bushes should 

 be denuded of every scrap of wood that will serve for a cutting. 



The second process of control open to the grower is rogueing. 

 This should begin in the cutting beds and end in the planta- 

 tion. In June of every year, the cutting beds should be 

 examined and every affected bush grubbed and burned. 

 Exactly the same procedure should be adopted in the plantation, 

 except that, since the bushes are fruiting, they should be 

 marked then for destruction after the fruit has been picked. The 

 best method of marking is to break one or more small branches 

 in such a way that they are not completely removed ; the dead 

 leaves indicate the disease and the operation does not materially 

 interfere with the crop. By adopting these methods, one large 

 fruit grower has practically eliminated the disease from his 

 plantations. 



