1172 



POOT-AXD-MOLTH DISEASE. 



[Mar., 



year and destroys the set. It is now too late to check the 

 fungus, though the further spread of the disease should be 

 prevented by removing and burning affected specimens. As 

 seed of early potatoes is a valuable commodity it may not be 

 amiss to point out how the trouble may be reduced next season. 



It has been shown that careless handling and bruising are 

 very important factors in predisposing the tubers to disease by 

 assisting the fungus to gain entrance. Early varieties for seed 

 purposes should be lifted in good time, handled and riddled 

 with great care, and put into the sprouting boxes as early as 

 possible in the autumn. Tubers which are boxed in October 

 and " greened " early are seldom badly attacked. Extremely 

 susceptible varieties like Ninety Fold and May Queen should 

 never be stored in clamps or in bins. It is perhaps advisable 

 to state that Dry Rot is a disease quite distinct from the 

 common blight, which is often responsible for loss of seed 

 during winter. (For further information on Dry Eot see 

 Leaflet No. 193, and for Potato Blight Leaflet No. 23.) 



Foot-and-Mouth Disease.— Kent (Wingham District), Shrewsbury, 

 and Droitwich. Xo further outbreaks having occurred in any of these districts, 

 all restrictions imposed in connection with the outbreaks have been withdrawn. 



Lincolnshire (Grimsby District). — Seven outbreaks in all have now been 

 confirmed in the Grimsby district, the latest being on the 20th January. The 

 district subject to restrictions has been considerably contracted, and now 

 consists of the country lying within a radius of about five miles from Grimsby. 



Lincolnshire (Ormsby District). — No outbreak has occurred in this district 

 since that on 3rd January, and all general restrictions have now been 

 withdrawn. 



Mi/land Counties Group— The position in the Midland Counties district 

 has improved considerably, and general restrictions are now in force only in 

 an area comprising the City of Birmingham and the parish of Sheldon, 

 and three other small areas around the actual outbreaks. In the 

 Birmingham district. 8 outbreaks in all occurred, the last on the 18th January; 

 in the Stow-on-the-Wold district and Banbury districts no further develop- 

 ments have occurred since the issue of the February Journal. 



Gloucestershire and Herefordshire District. — Xo outbreak has been 

 confirmed in this district, since that already referred to on 12th January, and 

 restrictions are now applicable only to one small area in the Ledbury district. 



Yorkshire (East Riding). — Five outbreaks in all have been confirmed in 

 the Halsham district, the most recent being on 11th February, at Hollym. 

 The restrictions on movement have been considerably modified, and now 

 apply only to an area of about five miles radius. 



Rabies.— Wiltshire, Dorset and Hampshire.— Tire fresh outbreaks have 

 occurred in this district since the issue of the February Journal, four cases 

 being confirmed at Southampton and one at Salisbury— the latter occurred on 



