SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE, FEBRUARY 13. 



XV 



same way under cultivation. Possibly the plants could be kept 

 alive by preventing them from flowering. Basal rot in Daffodils 

 is, we believe, caused by lifting the bulbs before they have 

 finished growth, or by bad treatment whilst they are out of the 

 ground.— W. T. T. D., November 30, 1893." 



Mr. Wilks dissented from the view of the cause of basal rot in 

 Daffodils, being of opinion that the trouble is much more frequent 

 when the bulbs are left in the ground all the summer than when 

 they are lifted. 



Potatos and Sulphate of Copper. — The superintendent of 

 the garden of H.H. the Nawab Bahadur of Murshidabad reported 

 that the Potato crop at Roesbagh and in Mabarak-Manjil had 

 totally failed. The failure was attributed to heavy rain, and 

 partly to the application of sulphate of copper. In the opinion 

 of the Committee the proportion of copper-salt made use of was 

 too large, especially as it was used in a free state and uncombined 

 with lime. The result was, the plants suffered from the caustic 

 effect of the salt. 



American Blight. — Mr. H. R. Dugmore inquired if there was 

 any approved method of preventing the different species of blight 

 ascending from the soil, as in the case of American blight on 

 Apples, mealy-bug on Vines, and scale on Acacias. It was 

 suggested that the grease band employed by Mr. Wilson and 

 others in the case of the winter moth might be tried, in addition 

 to the methods usually adopted of dealing with these pests. 



Scientific Committee, March 13, 1894. 



R. McLachlan, Esq., F.R.S., in the Chair, and seven members 



present. 



American Blight. — Mr. Blandford, alluding to the matter dis- 

 cussed at the previous meeting, expressed the opinion that the 

 woolly aphis (Schizoneura) does go down into the soil, but the 

 Coccids do not. 



Beetle attaching Orchids. — Mr. Blandford stated that he had 

 received specimens of the pseudo-bulb of a Dendrobium perforated 

 by a blunt-headed beetle, Xyleborus morigerus (Blandford), and 

 described by him in " Insect Life." 



This led to a discussion as to the increasing necessity of 



