PREFACE. 



The cour-e of lectures of which thi5 little book is a summary 

 was undertaken vnth a view to giving -ome assistance to those 

 who were endeavouring, to the best of their ability, during the 

 present crisis to increase the productiveness of their gardens or 

 allotments. V\ as it po-sible for the L'niversity to aid in any 

 way the-e practical men and Avomen to dccomplish their laudable 

 and patriotic endeavour ? A kno~\A ledge of the structure and 

 life of the plants they cultivate could not fail to be helpful to 

 gardeners and allotment-holder- in exphnning the reasons for 

 many of the common horticultural practices. Familiarity also 

 with the common animal ,tnd fungal para-ites of our garden 

 crops, and the method- of combating these pest- Avould enable 

 them to saA-e many doomed plants. For these reason- this course 

 of lectures on •' Plant- m Health and Disease "* v.a^ m-tituted, 

 and. as the size of the audience indicated that, the lectures met 

 a real need, it seemed desirable to is=ue to members of the 

 audience a short eight-page summary of each of the lectures. 

 As we ha\"e received man}' enquiries from person^ not attend- 

 ing the lectures both for .-mgle ai^stracts. and -mce the con- 

 clusion of the cour-e. fur comi^lete -et-. we have decided to 

 reprint them m book form. W > tra-t. hoAvever. that the fact 

 Aviil not be ox'crlooked that ihi- i-.-ue does not pretend to be 

 more than a somevhat brief -umrnary of a course of lectures, 

 and that all the lecturer- wt-ie tied down to very narrow limits 

 wherein to compress the suoject matter of a much longer dis- 

 course. We would also iDomt out that, as the lectures vcere 

 addressed to a ]\Ianchester audience, the lecturers often dealt 

 with the peculiar dihiculties that cire met with in this neighbour- 

 hood, and that the accounts given uf the animal and fungal pests 

 do not profes- to be exhaustive, but are descriptn-e of the niore 

 common dlsease^ occurring in the gardens and allotments m the 

 vicinity of our large industrial tuvuis. i he_ necessary condens<i_- 

 tion of many interesting point-. Avhich might wiih cidvant.igt- 

 have been expanded, and the omission of the illustrations which 

 accompanied the lecture-. wiU probably be less noticeable to 

 those Avho have attended the course of lectures than to new 

 readers of this little volume: nevertheless, we hope that these 

 latter will <ilso nnd in it -ome information, which may be of 

 value to them, bhould this hope be realised we shall feel well 

 satisfied. 



Thf. Umversity, F. E. Weiss. 



Waxchester, a. D. Imms. 



i;th March. 1016. W. RoBixsox. 



