Ixviii 
Monthly Council, June 3, 1891. 
from the Board of Agriculture, con- 
veying the thanks of the Board for 
the Society's prompt response to the 
invitation to undertake experiments 
■with potatoes, and intimating that 
the Board would be prepared to pro- 
vide a sum not exceeding lOOL during 
the current financial year to defray 
the expenses of the investigation. 
Mr. Carruthers had submitted the 
proof of a coloured diagram, with ex- 
planatory notes, illustrating the 
potato disease, prepared by him for 
the Irish Land Commission. The 
Committee recommended that 1,000 
copies of this diagram be printed for 
the Society as a first edition, and 
sold at the rate of Gd. each. A 
report had been submitted by Miss 
Ormerod on the wheat bulb maggot, 
•which the Committee recommended 
should be published. (See page 394.) 
The Sub-Committee on Potato 
Experiments, appointed at the last 
meeting of Council, had held two 
meetings on May 12 and June 2, 
and the following report from them 
had been adopted by the Seeds and 
Plants Committee : — 
Beport of Sub-Committee on Potato 
Experiments. 
1. The Sub-Committee propose 
that experiments on potatoes with 
sulphate of copper be carried on 
during the ensuing season in the 
following six districts : Devon, 
South Wales, Lancashire, Lincoln- 
shire, Kent, and Bedfordshire. 
2. That in each district a plot of 
?j acres be set apart on a selected 
farm, 1 acre to be treated with 
sulphate of copper, applied early 
as a pre\entive ; 1 acre to be 
treated later, should the disease 
make its appearance thereon ; and 
1 acre to be left without treat- 
ment. 
3. The application of the dress- 
ing to be made in every case under 
the direction of a skilled person, 
to be appointed by the Society. 
The Committee recommend that 
Mr. Edmond Kiley, of The Weir, 
Hessle, Hull, be charged with the 
superintendence of the application 
of the dressing. 
4. During the period of growth, 
the experiments to be inspected by 
the Consulting Botanist of the 
Society. 
5. The produce when dug up to 
be separated and weighed, under 
the superintendence of a person 
appointed by the Society'. 
Mr. Whitehead added that the 
Committee were greatly indebted to 
Monsieur Paul Aubert, of St. Hilaire, 
St. Florent, France, who kindly at- 
tended on the 2nd inst. and gave 
useful information upon points neces- 
sary to be observed in the prepara- 
tion and application of the " Bouillie 
Bordelaise " mixture. 
Mr. F. Bacon Frank, as a member 
of the Doncaster Local Committee, 
asked whether it was intended to 
carry out experiments with potatoes 
in the county of York, in which there 
were some of the largest potato 
growers in the Kingdom. 
ilr. Whitehead replied that the 
Sub-Committee had very carefully 
considered the question of the locali- 
ties for experiment, and they thought 
that six districts would be quite 
enough. One of those districts was 
Lancashire, not very far from York- 
shire, and he thought that that would 
be sufficient as representing a large 
potato district. Various offers of 
land for the purpose of the experi- 
ments had been received by the 
Committee, and he ought perhaps 
to s;ate that it was proposed to take 
the Isle of Axholme as the part of 
Lincolnshire to be experimented 
upon. 
Mr. HowAKD asked whether the 
potato ifself had been dressed, or 
whether it was attacked by the 
disease afterwards. It was a com- 
mon practice to dress wheat and 
barley before sowing, as the fungus 
was thought to be on the seed itself. 
It was still not too late to plant 
potatoes, and he thought it desirable 
that experiments should be made on 
this point. 
Mr. Whitehead replied that ex- 
periments had been made in the 
United States, by pickling the potato 
as they pickled wheat, with sulphate 
of copper or blue-stone. The results 
were not satisfactory, and the disease 
was not checked. The fungus, or the 
fungus in that stage, was in the 
potato, and could hardly be affected 
by an external application of snl-. 
