2i4 Cauliflower Disease of Strawberries. |j une > 



"In applying the self-boiled lime-sulphur mixture, the 

 spraying outfit should be equipped with a good agitator. 

 The mixture settles to the bottom of the tank, and unless kept 

 thoroughly agitated cannot be evenly applied." 



Spraying should be commenced early in the season, when 

 the foliage is about half-grown, and repeated as necessity 

 demands. 



If the soil be dug over during the winter, material capable 

 of infecting the foliage in the spring would be buried. 



This disease was first observed by Miss Ormerod in straw- 

 berry plants received from St. Paul's Cray, Kent, in 1890. 



It was stated that in a field of fourteen 



Cauliflower acres, nearly half the plants were dis- 

 Disease 01 



Strawberries eased. Specimens were submitted to 

 Dr. Ritzema Bos, who confirmed Miss 

 Ormerod's supposition that the injury was caused by an eel- 

 worm, which proved to be an undescribed species, and was 

 named Aphelenchus jragarice. 



The disease is readily recognised owing to the very re- 

 markable malformations of growth. The flower-buds and 

 flower-stems are stunted in growth, and form short, fleshy, 

 irregular masses resembling pieces of cauliflower; hence the 

 name "Cauliflower disease," suggested by Miss Ormerod. 

 The buds in the axils of the leaves become hard and scaly, 

 and do not grow out into stolons. In some diseased plants 

 recently received at Kew, it was observed that the leaves were 

 constantly small in size and much puckered and wrinkled. 

 The eel-worms are present in considerable numbers in the 

 diseased flower-buds and swollen portions of the plant (see 

 illustration) . 



As a rule, single plants scattered at intervals throughout 

 the field first show the disease, and if such plants are not 

 promptly removed the disease gradually spreads to neigh- 

 bouring plants, until the diseased patches become quite con- 

 spicuous owing to the stunted appearance of the plants and 

 the absence of bloom. 



Diseased plants should be removed and burned as 

 soon as the disease is observed. Sulphate of potash has 

 proved effective in checking the disease, applied at the rate 

 of 1 cwt. per acre. 



