1034 



Official Notices and Circulars. 



[JAN., 



The Board again call the attention of nurserymen and others to 

 the new Gooseberry Mildew Order which revokes all previous Orders 

 dealing with this disease except the Fruit 

 American Gooseberry Orders of 191 5 and 191 9,* (Orders referring 

 Mildew. to the importation of fruit and the consignment 



of diseased fruit to markets). 



Under this Order notification of disease is required from persons 

 growing gooseberry and currant bushes for sale. It is illegal to sell 

 gooseberry or currant bushes affected with the disease, but a grower, 

 after notification, may prune away all diseased tips and then sell the 

 bushes without a licence. The onus of seeing the bushes are free from 

 disease rests with the seller. All restrictions on the movement of 

 gooseberry or currant bushes which have been in force in Wisbech, 

 Kent, Worcester, etc., are removed, but the new Order enables an 

 inspector to forbid the removal of visibly diseased bushes and also to 

 deal with diseased bushes moved in contravention of the Order. The 

 Board retain power under the Order to deal with fruit growers and 

 private owners who fail to take proper steps to check the disease. 



The importation of gooseberry bushes is still prohibited, but that of 

 currant bushes is now allow^ed without licence. 



The Board regret to find nurserymen and growers of bushes for sale 

 are not exercising the necessary care and removing the tips before selling 

 the bushes. The Board will strictly enforce the provisions of the Order 

 dealing with the sale of diseased bushes, and in such cases of contra- 

 vention reported to them are instituting legal proceedings. 



For a long time past large tracts of sheep-farming land in Scotland 

 and the North Tyne district of England have known a sheep disease 

 popularly called Louping-ill. Of late it has 

 Lonping-ill in been so destructive to the flocks, particularly 

 Sheep. to lambs, that the farmers in the North Tyne 



country applied to the Board of Agriculture 

 for advice and assistance, and Sir Stewart Stockman, Chief Veterinary 

 Officer of the Board, recently met a representative gathering of sheep 

 farmers and shepherds at Bellingham in Northumberland, where a 

 conference was held to discuss the application to practice of the results- 

 of research on this disease. Sir Stewart Stockman's own inquiries intO' 

 the pathology of Louping-ill were published at some length in the issue 

 of this Journal for April, 191 9, and he was able to give the meeting an 

 assurance that the farmers have the remedy in their own hands provided 

 it suits their business to adopt it. By taking the proper measures they" 

 can clean up thousands of acres of infected pastures. The investigations 

 show that Louping-ill is a tick-born disease. The ticks feed on blood 

 of an infected sheep and afterwards pass infection on to the other sheep 

 upon which they feed. The obvious method of eradicating the disease 

 is to free the pastures of the ticks by stocking each part of the pasture 

 heavily in turn with sheep to catch the ticks, and then dipping the sheep 

 in an anti-tick bath. The ticks attack the sheep in order to feed on 

 their blood and remain attached to their bodies for about five days ; 

 dipping with intervals of five days will, therefore, catch the greatest 

 number of ticks on the sheep. Another method to be used in con- 

 junction with the dipping is to drive the sheep from tick-infested 



* See this Journal, June, 191 9, p. 339. 



