848 Control of Plant Diseases in Germany, [jan., 



(8) The bushes, should be carefully pruned during the 

 winter months; plants that have become too dense should 

 be thinned and the last traces of disease removed. 



Among other pests dealt with in the Report are the Felted 

 Beech Coccus, the Pigmy Mangold Beetle, a new Tomato 

 Disease, and various "Scabs" of potatoes. The Report also 

 refers to the inquiries into Bee Disease in the Isle of Wight, 

 and into the Food of Birds. 



A system for reporting the occurrence of plant diseases, and 

 for disseminating information as to their prevention, was 

 established in Germany in 1905 under the control of the Im- 

 perial Biological Institute, and it 



Control of Plant appears from the Report of the Institute 

 Diseases in Germany, for 1908 that there are now twenty-seven 

 principal stations in Germany for the 

 collection of information, of which fourteen are in Prussia. 

 Some four or five States, however, have not as yet entered 

 into the organisation. 



The stations are, as a rule, agricultural experiment stations 

 and colleges, and some of them have a considerable number 

 of subsidiary centres. Brandenburg, for instance, is stated to 

 have fourteen local stations with 734 correspondents. In 

 spite of the fact that nearly the whole of the country is thus 

 served, the number of reports to the Biological Institute 

 remains small, and this is attributed to the fact that the 

 system is as yet little known. 



During the year the Institute received communciations 

 relating to 992 cases of attacks, of which as many as 388 

 occurred in Brandenburg. 



Among the diseases to which reference is made is wart 

 disease (Chrysophlyctis endobiotica), which was observed for 

 the first time in Germany in 1908 (Journal, December, 1908, 

 p. 704), and American gooseberry mildew, which is stated to 

 be more or less prevalent in districts east of the Elbe, whilst 

 to the west and in the south it has, up to the present, only 

 occurred sporadically (Journal January, 1909, p. 777). Other 

 diseases include Ophiobolus herpotrichus, a root disease of 

 wheat (Journal, September, 1907, p. 355), potato leaf curl 



