SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE, DECEMBER 19. 



XCV 



thought that the condition of the border was probably such as to account 

 for the trouble. 



Botanical Certificate. — Flowers of Chrysanthemum indieum were 

 shown by Messrs. Cannell, and a Botanical Certificate was awarded to this 

 plant, which has given rise to so many forms of value in the garden. It 

 was introduced many years ago (1835, or perhaps prior to that). 



Scientific Committee, December 19, 1905. 



Mr. G. Massee, V.M.H., in the Chair, with eight members present, and 

 Mr. W. M. Webb, F.L.S., visitor. 



Big Bud in Black Currants. — Mr. de Montmorency, of Carrickmines, 

 Dublin, sent specimens of this well-known trouble. Mr. Saunders, F.L.S., 

 said : " The buds are attacked by the black currant bud-mite (Eriophyes 

 ribis). There are not at present any living mites in them, as the buds 

 are dead, and the mites have probably migrated to the living buds. These 

 mites are so small that they cannot be seen without the aid of a strong 

 magnifying-glass, so that it has been very difficult to make out their life- 

 history ; in fact, there is still something to learn. No remedy for the use 

 of the fruit-grower has yet been discovered. The mites may be found in 

 the living buds at all seasons of the year. They appear to migrate from 

 the buds in which they have passed the winter to the young buds which 

 are forming at the base of the leaves in June or July. The action of the 

 mites feeding on the embryo leaves that they contain causes the buds to 

 swell, and become much larger and rounder than the others. They never 

 open properly. A large number of experiments have been made, and 

 remedies tried without success, and various investigations are now being 

 carried out with the hope of finding some method of stopping the ravages 

 of these little mites. Picking off the swollen buds and burning them as 

 soon as they are noticed is a partial remedy when the attack is slight, and 

 if the removal of the infested buds is properly done. Spraying with the 

 following mixture has also met with success : Mix 1 lb. of flowers of 

 sulphur with a little water till it is about the thickness of gruel, and 

 dissolve 12 lb. of soft soap in two gallons of water : stir the two mixtures 

 well together, then mix in slowly enough water to make 25 gallons. 

 Neither of these remedies, however, will free the bushes entirely from this 

 pest. Cutting down the bushes to within 2 inches or 3 inches of the 

 ground and dressing them with an insecticide has even proved ineffectual, 

 for though at first the buds seemed to be all right, in the course of two or 

 three years the mites again made their appearance. By far the best thing 

 to do, as far as is known at present, is to burn the infested bashes, and 

 obtain fresh ones from an untainted source, and to plant them in fresh 

 soil. In cuttings it is not sufficient to see that there are no sv.oJ ien buds 

 on them, but they must be taken from bushes that are free from this pest. 

 These mites are easily, and I have no doubt are frequently, carried by 

 birds and insects from one bush to another ; but if the growers of black 

 currants would combine together, and destroy every bush that is in any 

 degree infested with this mite, the pest might be stamped out. If com- 

 bined efforts were made by neighbouring fruit-growers, many other pests, 

 both animal and vegetable, might be practically annihilated." 



