296 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
unduly robbed of root moisture. We know for certain that where the 
mites thrive most, and the disease is at its worst, is where the bushes are 
planted in extensive plots, receive the best cultivation, and as a conse- 
quence make the most vigorous growths. 
Gutting doion Bushes to the Ground. — Years ago I firmly believed this 
method to be the most effectual way of dealing with this pest. But since 
seeing the recent results at Woburn, I must admit that this treatment 
has given anything but satisfactory results. The partial cutting down of an 
infected plantation has proved absolutely of no avail, as the new growths 
became equally badly infested, and sometimes even worse than those which 
had been previously cut away. 
Hard Pruning or Thinning of the Bushes appears in no way to check 
the disease in large plantations. 
Cutting doion Bushes, and steeping the Boots and Crows in Dilute 
Methylated Spirit. — The plan adopted at Woburn (p. 23 I.e.) was to cut 
down twelve bushes from infested plots and transplant them to Harpenden, 
leaving the earth still attached to the roots, twelve other bushes being 
also cut down and soaked in dilute methylated spirit. A similar number 
of plants were treated precisely in the same way and transplanted to Miss 
Ormerod's garden at St. Albans. The following year (November, 1899) 
Miss Ormerod kindly gave me the opportunity of inspecting these bushes. 
I could not then see the slightest trace of external signs of the disease, nor 
could I find any of the mites in a number of buds which I subjected to a 
thorough microscopical examination. This treatment, therefore, gave very 
promising results, and I thought we had at least proved the mites were 
exclusively confined to the buds and did not exist elsewhere upon the plant 
or in the soil. Twelve months afterwards I was again favoured with 
another opportunity of inspecting the bushes at St. Albans, when to my 
regret I found a few of the buds showed unmistakable signs of the 
disease, and a microscopical examination showed them to be infested with 
mites. This does not, however, exculsively prove that the mites exist 
normally in the soil or on the roots. It is highly probable that the mites 
were forcibly ejected from the buds when the bushes were cut down, and 
that they were carried in the soil adhering to the roots of the plants which 
had not been treated with methylated spirit. Miss Ormerod has kindly 
forwarded these plants to me, and I have had them transplanted to my 
garden here for further investigation. I should add that I have also 
examined the roots and adhering soil for a possible chance of finding the 
mites there, but can find no trace of them. 
Liquid Insecticides. — From what I have seen at Woburn and also from 
certain experiments which I have personally conducted, I believe there is 
no liquid insecticide at present known which will eftectually kill the 
mites without, at the same time, also killing the bushes. It would be 
well if every grower of Black Currants would read the Woburn Report 
and see for himself the results which have been obtained there by the 
application of many difterent agents, including those recommended by the 
Board of Agriculture. If the mites would only expose themselves for a 
definite period it would be a comparatively easy matter to find a remedy. 
But seeing that the majority of the mites, even at the period of migration, 
are well concealed within the buds, we have yet to find a material sufficiently 
