302 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



tion is available as to its presence in Hungary itself. Communications 

 some years ago to Professor Schilberszky, who held the chair of 

 Botany at the Royal Hungarian Horticultural College, Budapest, elicited 

 no reply, but the Secretary of the National Hungarian Agricultural 

 Society of that time did not know of the disease being prevalent in 

 Hungary. Although it was undoubtedly present in England before 

 this time, it is interesting that one of the earliest definite statements I 

 have got is from Messrs. Sutton to the effect that they first received 

 a specimen in July 1898 from the late Mr. W. Kerr of Dumfries. 

 It came from near Birkenhead, and was grown from "seed" (variety 

 ' Imperator ') from Hungary! A photograph appears in Mr. A. W* 

 Sutton's paper on "The Potato" in the Jour. R.A.S.E. for 1898, 

 p. 599 ; but the disease was not recognized, and it was called " rust." * 

 While it is not possible that this " seed " was the means of introducing 

 the disease into England — for a number of persons had told me they 

 had had the disease twenty years before — it is significant that it is in 

 this district that personal records go back furthest, and quite definite 

 statements have been made as to its occurrence and character in the 

 'eighties. Mr. W. Nield, of Holmes Chapel Agricultural College, 

 informed Mr. Salmon (64) that he first heard of it in 1895, and it was 

 generally believed in Cheshire that it had been introduced into this 

 country by the cattle boats arriving at Birkenhead. Mr. Young, 

 the Principal of the College, has stated that it was known in Cheshire 

 as far back as 1890. Dr. McDougall (38) mentions that it was first 

 brought to his notice in 1899 amongst potatos from Cheshire farms 

 grown from new seed. It was noticed at Burton-on-Trent in an allot- 

 ment the same year. Professor Newstead stated that he remembers 

 seeing it at Upwell, near Wisbech, in 1878. If it was so it is curious that 

 this district is now one of the cleanest in the country as regards 

 Wart Disease. 



In the Birmingham district Mr. A. L. Wells informs me it occurred 

 thirty years ago in a garden, and was found in fields there many years 

 ago. It also made an early appearance in Lancashire, for in 1909 

 five farmers, in a letter to the Ormskirk Advertiser, stated it was 

 known in cottage gardens fifty years before. While it is not advisable 

 to accept without reserve statements made as to the presence of a 

 disease many years before by non-scientific persons, Wart Disease is 

 so characteristic that, except in its earlier stages when corky scab 

 may be confused with it, one may place more reliance than usual on 

 such statements. 



The earliest published record of its appearance in Scotland that I 

 have is one by the late Doctor Wilson (88), who gave a description, 

 with photographs, of the disease. He records it as having been sent 

 him from Colinsburgh, Fife, in September 1901. It must have been 

 present many years, for eleven years back many gardens in Fife were 

 full of disease. My colleague, Mr. G. P. Berry, tells me that Mr. 



* In the Jour, of Hort., Dec. 15, 1898, the late Mr. Abbey had an article on a 

 potato disease which from the illustration is evidently Wart Disease. 



