AMERICAN GOOSEBERRY-MILDEW AND NEED FOR LEGISLATION. 133 



" In those countries in which the Government most fully recognise the 

 economic importance of vegetable pathology, as in the United States, 

 New Zealand, and Sweden, the adoption .of precautionary measures for 

 the avoidance of fungus diseases has been enforced by legislation. In 

 such countries the passing of Acts framed to prevent the introduction 

 into the country of certain plant-diseases has safeguarded the interests 

 of the agriculturist and horticulturist in the same way as those of the 

 animal- breeder have for a long time been protected by the various Acts 

 prohibiting imports of diseased or suspected animals." 



In the " Gardeners' Chronicle " in December 1905 the following 

 statement was made in connection with the present gooseberry disease : 

 " The point is, was the fungus (1) introduced on living plants in its 

 fully developed, conspicuous condition, in which case it could not have 

 escaped the eye of an official on the look-out for diseases ; or (2) did it 

 come under the form of spores adhering to the plant which in due season 

 produced the disease ? In the latter case, no official, however observant, 

 could have detected its presence. To say that, if legislation on the point 

 had been in force, the disease would not have entered Ireland, is only the 

 expression of an enthusiast, and will not bear criticism." 



This contains a serious misstatement, which I have already corrected 

 in an article on the subject of "Legislation with respect to Plant Diseases 

 caused by Fungi." * It will be well to re-state here what I said on this 

 point : " If legislation, such as that employed against this disease by 

 other countries at the present time, had been in force, the disease would 

 almost certainly have been prevented from entering Ireland. That stage 

 of the fungus — viz. the stage in which the fungus is carried about by 

 naked spores adhering to the plant, assumed above (2) — does not, as a 

 matter of fact, occur in the life-history of the fungus. In the whole 

 group of these mildews, the resting-spores are enclosed in conspicuous 

 fruit-bodies throughout the winter, and are not to be found as isolated 

 spores t adhering to plants ; only in spring at the moment of infection 

 are the resting-spores of the fungus liberated. 



" Further, in the case of the present disease, the fungus is distin- 

 guished by possessing persistent, superficial, brown mycelial patches, in 

 which the fruit-bodies enclosing the winter-spores are embedded. These 

 brown patches of mycelium are superficial on the young wood, and, being 

 conspicuous, the disease can easily be detected. 



" Hence the assumption that no official could detect the disease on 

 imported stock is quite unfounded." 



In order to set forth the exact state of affairs, it will be well to make 

 the following quotation from the same article : " The disease was first 

 observed in 1900, in a garden in Ireland ; by 1901 it was established in 

 nine localities in six counties. In spite of repeated warnings, which 

 I gave in several papers published in 1900-1905, dealing with this 

 dangerous disease, no systematic attempt has yet been made by the 

 Authorities to stamp out the disease in Ireland, or to prevent further 

 importation of diseased gooseberry bushes. 



* Gardeners'' Chronicle, January 27 and February 3, 1906. 



f The introduction of the fungus by means of the summer spores, or conidia, is 

 quite out of the question. 



