Abstract
THE discussion on September 15 in Section M (Agriculture) of the British Association on “Scientific Aspects of Potato Growing” proved useful and timely. Inevitably the discussion was entirely pathological, ranging from virus diseases to potato sickness caused by the eelworm, Hetero-dera Sckachtii, which may reduce the value of potato land from £2 to 10s. per acre. Most of it, however, concerned virus diseases and the raising of healthy seed potatoes. The magnitude of the question is shown by the fact that there are half a million acres of potatoes in England and Wales, and of these some 120,000 acres are planted with Scottish or Irish seed potatoes annually. The balance is planted with local seed, and it is a question to what extent this could be profitably replaced, for fresh seed is estimated to increase yields by one ton per acre. Much also could be done, as has been shown by Bryan at Ormskirk, to maintain the health of the imported seed so as to make it last longer.
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Murphy, P. Nature and Control of Potato Virus Diseases. Nature 138, 955–956 (1936). https://doi.org/10.1038/138955a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/138955a0