452 American Gooseberry Mildew. [nov., 



of the land above. As soon as the higher ground is reached 

 the disease disappears. In both cases the soil is fairly stiff. 

 In several other cases the whole plantation lay rather low, 

 and the soil was stiff and somewhat damp. But in many 

 other cases the disease occurred on moderately high ground 

 with a medium soil. In a few cases the land lay high, and 

 the soil was of a good medium quality, most suitable for 

 the growth of gooseberry bushes. The quality was clearly 

 shown by the way in which several newly-planted bushes 

 had grown, compared with the other bushes of the same batch 

 which had been left on the fairly stiff and damp soil where 

 they had been propagated. During the summer of 1907, 

 which has proved exceptionally wet, disease was detected in 

 several plantations on fairly high land, and in one case on 

 very high land. There is, however, no evidence to show 

 whether bushes on high, warm, dry land would be capable of 

 resisting the infection in more favourable seasons. 



Age of Bushes Attacked. — Bushes of practically all 

 ages were found to be attacked by the mildew.* The disease 

 was seen on bushes of one and two years old, and it seems 

 probable that these had the disease on them when planted as 

 cuttings in the first instance — that is to say, the parent bushes 

 were probably affected. In case of bushes from three to five 

 years old there is reason to believe that some, at any rate, 

 were affected when planted, while others were probably 

 infected by other bushes in the neighbourhood. The older 

 bushes were frequently the most diseased, in one case practically 

 every shoot on the bushes being found to be attacked. In 

 other plantations bushes of seven or eight years old were found 

 to be diseased, while in a large number the diseased bushes 

 had reached the age of ten to twelve years. 



Varieties of Gooseberries Attacked. — There appeared 

 to be no variety of gooseberry among those grown in Worcester- 

 shire which was capable of resisting disease. The following 

 were found to be most frequently attacked : — Whinham's 

 Industry, Lancashire Lad, Keepsake, Rushwick Seedling, 

 and, to a less extent, Crown Bob, Careless and Warrington. 

 In one case May Duke was found diseased, though very 



* Herr Wilhelm Herter says [loc. cit.) : " Hochstamme werden ebenfalls weniger 

 gern befallen, doch ist u. a. Prof. Eriksson hieriiber der entgegengesetzten Ansicht." 



