736 



The Disteibi-tiox of Wart Disease. 



[Nov., 



On very reliable authority the disease is said to have been 

 present in potato crops in Haddington (Scotland) as far back 

 as 1876. 



One of the earliest reliable statements is that of Professor 

 ^ewst•ead, who states that he remembers seeing it at Upwell, 

 near Wisbech, in 1878: this is curious, since no disease has 

 been discovered there since. 



The first scientific record of the disease is that given by 

 Schilbersky in 1896 (Hungary), but it has not been proved 

 that it was actually present in Hungary at that time. A curious 

 fact, however, is that one of the earliest definite records of the 

 presence of the disease in potatoes in England is that published 

 by :\Ir. Arthur Sutton (of Reading), who stated that his 

 fii-m in 1898 received a specimen of potato affected in a peculiar 

 way from the late :\Ir. W. Kerr of Dumfries. The specimen 

 was stated to have come from Birkenliead, the variety being 

 Imperator. grown from seed imported from Hungary. The 

 disease was not recognised at that time, and was referred to by 

 'Mr. Sutton as " rust." 



^fr. Xield, of tlie Holmes Chapel Agricultural College, 

 Cheshire, first learnt of Wart Disease in 1895, and records that 

 it was commonly believed in Cheshire that the disease was 

 introduced by cattle boats arriving at Birkenhead. 



Dr. MacDougall, in " The Transactions of the Highland and 

 Agricultural Society of Scotland " (1903), writes that Wart 

 Disease was first brouoht to his notice in 1899, among new 

 seed potatoes sent from Cheshire. 



The late Dr. Wilson, of St. Andrews, was the first to publish 

 a record of the appearance of Wart Disease in Scotland. He 

 states in his paper that a specimen was sent to him from 

 Colinsburgh, Fife, in 1901, but, as previously stated, its exist- 

 ence in the Lothian districts of Scotland probably dates back 

 to a much earlier period. 



The disease was reported from Wales in 1901, and from 

 Ireland in 1908. 



From these scattered data we may safely conclude that Wart 

 Disease has been present in tliis country for many years. The 

 slow spread of the disease in these early days is a matter of 

 some surprise, but it must be remembered that in the earlier 

 stages of its history it spread locally, and when one takes into 

 consideration the fact of a four years' rotation, it is easily 

 understood how the disease would take some time to make 

 itself evident to any extent. 



