1920.] 



varied somewhat at one centre, the intensity of the attack was 

 very severe, and every tuber of " Great Scot " was attacked; 



Golden Wonder " and " Floiirball " were almost as badly 

 affected, only two or three of the tubers being visibly free. In 

 this test " King George " was not so badly attacked, but even 

 here the disease was serious, 80 per cent, of the tubers being 

 affected, but not severely. On another plot where " Great 

 Scot " was attacked to the extent of 95 per cent., " Templar " 

 had 60 per cent, of tubers affected. 



The above trials took place in Derbyshire, but a trial at 

 Gisburn in the West Riding gave a low'er percentage of disease. 

 In this case, however, it w^as evident that the soil was not 

 infected to such a great extent as in Derbyshire. All varieties 

 were attacked, varying from " Edzell Blue " with. 30 per cent., 

 down to " Ally " wath 5 per cent., and " Templar " wdth 4 per 

 cent, of tubers affected. 



In each case the soil w^as heavy and constantly damp, and 

 it is known that under these conditions, more especially w-hen 

 lime is present, the scab has its greatest opportunities of 

 development. 



Further experiments are contemplated next season, when it 

 is hoped that both drainage and chemical trials may be 

 undertaken. 



The outstanding feature of the bee-keeping industry during 

 the past few years has been the serious depletion of the 



. , . „ number of stocks of bees in the countrv. 

 Restocking of • , n ^ - t i ^ i 



Bees Scheme o^^i^^g" the so-called Isle oi Wight 



disease. This disease w^as first noticed in 

 the Isle of Wight in 1904, and in 1909 it spread to Hampshire 

 and to the mainland generally. By the year 1918 the stocks 

 had dwindled to such a serious extent that the INIinistry decided 

 to inaugurate a scheme to re-establish bee-keeping, and, if 

 possible, to increase its extent. In order to do this it w^as 

 essential not only to replace the stocks that had been lost, but 

 to introduce a race of bees possessing some degree of resistance 

 to Isle of Wight disease, pjxperiments which had already been 

 carried out demonstrated that the Italian Bee possessed this 

 power of resistance to a large extent. Investigations into the 

 results of these experiments were undertaken by the Llinistry's 

 Technical Adviser on bee-keeping, and, these proving satis- 

 factorv, the Ministrv decided that the main feature of the 



