126 
Plant Pests and Legislation. 
the disease exists, also, in some half dozen counties in Scotland. 
At present the pest is unknown in Lincolnshire, and also in 
the south of England generally, but unless the sale of diseased 
“ seed ” is prohibited by law (which has not yet been done) 
the pest will inevitably be introduced, sooner or later, into all 
the potato-growing districts, through the medium of Scotch 
and other “ seed.” Land is rendered unfit for potatoes for six 
years or longer after the growing of a diseased crop. 
Let us see now what steps have been taken under the 
“Destructive Insects and Pests Act” against these two most 
destructive diseases. 
With regard to the American Gooseberry Mildew, the first 
Order was issued on July 12, 1907. This was entitled the 
“ Gloucestershire and Worcestershire (Gooseberry Mildew) 
Order of 1907,” and contained the following provisions : — 
The disease must be notified by the grower ; the Local 
Authority (County or Borough Council) is then required to 
investigate and to serve notices under which the grower is 
compelled (1) to destroy immediately all diseased bushes ; 
(2) to spray the site of all bushes that have been destroyed, 
and also all the remaining gooseberry and currant bushes on a 
defined area, with a certain fungicide. Powers of entry are 
given to inspectors appointed by the Local Authority. The 
grower, further, is prohibited from removing any gooseberry 
or currant bush from the defined area. 
Four similar orders were issued during July, September, 
and October, 1907, for (1) Lincolnshire and Norfolk ; 
(2) Warwickshire ; (3) Derbyshire, Leicestershire, and 
Nottinghamshire ; and (4) Cambridgeshire and Huntingdon- 
shire. 
The object of these Orders was to secure the destruction 
of diseased bushes. But little success resulted in this 
direction. As pointed out on page 124 it is at present 
left to the Local Authority to decide whether compensation 
is paid for bushes compulsorily destroyed, instead of the 
Government having vested this power in the Board of 
Agriculture, as in the Act of 1877 (see page 123). In the case 
of all the above Orders, the County Councils concerned 
decided not to give any compensation. The growers strongly 
objected to having their bushes destroyed without being 
compensated, and a deadlock resulted, there being no systematic 
grubbing up of diseased bushes over the infected areas in any 
county. The extreme difficulty, or even the impossibility, 
of working this first Order, coupled with the fact that the 
mildew has spread rapidly to fresh areas, forced the Board on 
December 10, 1907, to revoke all these Orders, and to issue 
the “ American Gooseberry Mildew Oi’der of 1907.” 
