clxxxviii Monthly Council, December 7, 1892. 
knowledge, who might be trained in 
the practical work of the Department. 
Under these circumstances, the Com- 
mittee made their recommendation to 
the Council as the best possible 
solution of this difficult question. 
They recognised that it was im- 
possible to get per saltum an accom- 
plished economic entomologist ; and 
the best plan, therefore, was to get a 
young man, and induce him by a fair 
salary, and the prospect of an incre- 
ment, to devote himself to the study 
of natural history as applied to 
agriculture. 
Finger-and-Toe in Turnips. 
Earl Cathcart called the attention 
of the Committee to the subject of 
llnger-and-toe in turnips, which was 
a very serious matter in some locali- 
ties. There ought to be a paper on 
this subject in the Journal, and he 
hoped that Mr. Whitehead and his 
Committee would be good enough to 
arrange for such a paper for the 
Society. 
Mr. Whitehead replied that there 
was a paragraph in the Consulting 
Botanist’s Report, alluding to this 
tinger-and-toe disease, which was 
scientifically known as Plasmodio- 
2>lim'a BrassiccB. Mr. Carruthers 
had had several complaints of this 
disease affecting turnips, which was, 
as the Council probably knew, caused 
by a fungus. The Seeds and Plants 
Committee would take the matter 
into consideration. 
Potato Experiments. 
With reference to the Society’s 
experiments upon potatoes, Mr. 
Whitehead said that the full re- 
sults would appear in the Society’s 
Journal, but the Council would be 
interested in knowing that putting 
together the results obtained from the 
different stations, excluding Cheshire, 
there was an unanimous verdict upon 
four points:— (1) That the dressing 
with bouillie hordelaise, though it docs 
not entirely prevent disease, has a 
marked effect in lessening the extent 
to which disease spreads. (2) That 
associated with the lessening of 
disease is an almost certain increase 
of crop, which more than pays for 
the cost of application of the dressing. 
(3) That the best treatment is an 
early application of the bouillie horde- 
laise before disease has made its 
appearance, and that this should be 
repeated if the marks of the first 
dressing have been removed by rain. 
(4) That, even if delayed until disease 
comes, a lessening of the spread of 
disease may be to some degree 
effected by a late dressing, and the 
crop, as a rule, will be sufficiently 
increased to pay for the application. 
'These results were borne out by four 
of the five stations at which the 
experiments were complete, those in 
Kent, Bedfordshire, Lincolnshire, and 
Devon exemplifying them almost in 
every particular, even with the many 
plots comprising the experiments at 
each spot. The results in Cheshire 
were the only ones that told adversely 
to the utility of the dressing, and even 
here, in the case of one of the four 
crops, a large gain in yield was 
experienced. 'The general results 
might accordingly be stated as 
distinctly showing the advantage of 
using the botiillie hordelaise dressing, 
whether disease appears or not, and 
that the best plan was to apply the 
dressing about a fortnight before the 
disease was likely to appear, and to 
renew it when washed off. 
Veterinary. 
Sir John Thorold (Chairman) 
reported officially the result of the 
deputation to the President of the 
Board of Agriculture on the 4th ult., 
in reference to the importation of 
cattle affected with pleuro-pneumonia 
from Canada, and a copy of the 
“ Animals Amendment Order of 1892, 
No. 9,” providing that from the 21st 
ult. cattle brought from Her 
Majesty’s possessions in North 
America should be subject to 
slaughter at the port of landing, was 
laid upon the table. Of the 600Z. 
granted to the Committee for the 
year 1892, they had expended 558Z. 8s. 
<bd., and they asked for a renewal of 
the grant of 600Z. for the year 1893, 
500Z. of this sum to be allocated to 
the Royal Veterinary College for the 
study of comparative pathology and 
bacteriology. They had met eight 
times and made eight reports. 
The following report had been 
