1920.] The Distribution of Wart Disease. 



865 



Ezra Miles, an old breeder near Leicester (although now living 

 in the North of England) , produced seeds which ultimately 

 gave the industry Great Scot, King George, I.ochar, Tinwald 

 Perfection, and Khoderic Dhu. 



Influence of Distribution of Seed Potatoes. — It now becomes 

 necessary to consider the way in w^hich these potatoes became 

 distributed throughout the country. In these days potato 

 growers in England and Wales look to Scotland and Ireland 

 for their seed, and rely on the railway companies to make the 

 transport of the goods as convenient and as cheap as possible. 

 Needless to say, such a state of affairs has only been arrived 

 at by stages, each stage possibly having an important bearing on 

 this subject. 



As far back as the middle of the nineteenth century potato 

 growers in England and Ireland procured seed potatoes in small 

 quantities from Scotland, but there is a general opinion among 

 merchants that prior to 1895 the transference of seed, which was 

 only on a small scale, was more or less confined to the early 

 varieties. 



About 1895, owing to the energies of Mr. Archibald Findlay 

 in breeding potatoes on his farms in Fife and growing a crop 

 of potatoes produced from Scotch seed on his farms in Lincoln- 

 shire, and also as a result of the potato trials of Mr. Tom Scarlett 

 of Edinburgh, the demand for seed from Scotland increased. 



In 1900 " Blight," sweeping through the Eastern Counties, 

 destroyed a very large number of the commoner varieties then 

 grown, but one of two Scotch varieties raised by Mr. Findlay 

 remained clean. A potato boom was created which increased the 

 importance of these varieties, and the fact that they were Scotch 

 varieties stimulated the Scotch seed potato industry, so that 

 from 1900 onw^Lrds the transference of seed potatoes from Scot- 

 land for planting in England steadily increased year by year. 



Transport and Distribution of Disease. — The simplest and 

 probably the best method of sending seed potatoes is by rail, 

 and this method is probably the least costly for short journeys, 

 but prior to 1914 transit by sea for longer journeys was cheaper. 

 English buyers naturally choose to obtain their seed from dis- 

 tricts where the ultimate cost to them would be the least. Thus 

 the southern potato districts of Scotland, Fife, the Lothians and 

 Dumfries were selected for preference. Merchants trading in 

 seed potatoes grown in the more northern districts of Scotland 

 were, consequently, at a disadvantage. They could only market 

 their prod^ice at a lower price than the southern m.erchant, or 

 chqose a less costly method of transit. Transit by shipment, as 



