!
232
}
Authentic
the earlier Kew diagnosis, while that from the Argentine is awaited. specimens of P. hyoscyami from Italy have been sent to Australia for comparison.
Reports on the cultures of a banana parasite from the Canaries, referred to last year, have now been received from the West Indies and United States, and confirm, though with some reservations, our provisional diagnosis as Fusarium cubense. The "Panama" disease of bananas caused by this fungus was not previously recorded from the Canaries, and the banana grown there is supposed to be immune from it, so that further enquiries are being made to endeavour to put the matter beyond doubt, in view of the danger of this disease reaching Africa.
The Sudan Department of Agriculture is attempting to disinfect the whole of the cotton seed sown in certain areas with a view to controlling the black arm disease, caused by Bacterium malcacearum. We have been able to secure the co- operation of Manchester University in an endeavour to find a more suitable disin- fectant than the previously recommended corrosive sublimate and sulphuric acid, and have transferred this enquiry to Dr. Robinson in Manchester. Other cotton diseases, chiefly boll rots, have been received from various localities; including an interesting sample of internal boil disease, apparently of the West Indian type, from Nyasaland.
Mr. Wiltshire visited Dominica to report on the withertip disease of limes which has recently become epidemic there, and his report* gives a very useful picture of the present condition of the disease, and the prospects of coping with it.
Amongst the workers in the Bureau during the half-year were Dr. W. Small, Mycologist, Uganda, from 10th to 31st October, Miss E. Welsford, Mycologist, Zanzibar, for several days in March, and Mr. E. W. Davy, Assistant Director of Agriculture, Nyasaland, from 19th February to 1st March.
British Empire Exhibition.-The Bureau co-operated with various other institutions in arranging an exhibit of plant diseases and insect pests as a branch of the Tropical Health Section in the Government pavilion. Most generous-contri- butions of specimens, models, and illustrations were made by various overseas departments, particularly the Division of Botany, Pretoria, and the Indian Agricultural Departments. Owing to circumstances beyond our control, what at one time promised to be a remarkable exhibit of tropical plant diseases has had to be curtailed, and is very inadequately housed in a badly lighted stairway and passage, part of which has not yet been made ready for our use. Still it is probably much the largest collection of tropical diseases as yet exhibited in England, and it is hoped that some means may be adopted to prevent its complete dispersal after the Exhibition-closes.
Overseas Tours.-The Director returned from Australia on 24th October, but for convenience his report was included with the half-yearly reportt for the period ending 30th September last. Mr. Wiltshire sailed for the West Indies on 22nd December and returned on 12th March. His report is printed as a separate papert. The trip cost £236, but the excess over the estimate of £150 submitted to the last meeting of the Managing Committee was almost entirely due to a request from the Government of Dominica that he should visit that island to report on the withertip disease of limes, and negotiations are in progress with a view to recovering part of the cost of the visit from the local Government.
There is no doubt in my mind that the value of these tours in contributing to the usefulness of the Bureau is out of all proportion to their cost.
E. J. BUTLER.
21st May, 1924.
* No. 72.
+ No. 71. -
† No. 72.
vernment grants
nterest
298
APPENDIX I.
Balance Sheet as at 31st March, 1924.
Miscellaneous receipts at Bureau
Deposit
Cash at Crown Agents and lent at interest
Cash in hand (Bank and petty cash) Salaries
Review of Applied Mycology Translations for Review Apparatus and furniture
Library
General expenses
Expenses of overseas tours
Pension contribution to India Office
Cost of copying card index of parasitic fungi Miscellaneous expenses of various officials
Interest
.
Dr.
Cr.
£
8. d.
£
a. d. 7 19,546 15
769 10 4
14
2
1,000 0 0 3,500 0 0 1,488-16 6 262 3 9 9.697 11 4 983 7 6
1 12 6
779 17 6
457 7 2
549 4 2
505 14 21
0
748 10 150 14 0 186 1
5
£20,311 0 1
£20,311
0
1
APPENDIX II,
STATEMENT OF RECEIPTS AND EXPENDITURE FOR THE YEAR ENDING
318T MARCH, 1924.
Government grants
Review of Applied Mycology
Salaries
Apparatus and furniture
Library
General expenses at Bureau
Pension contribution to India Office
Expenses of overseas tours
Cost of copying card index of parasitic fungi Miscellaneous (travelling expenses of Managing
Committee)
Receipts.
Expenditure.
£ 8. d. 3,575 0 0
£ 8. d.
188 14 0
147 11 0
863 14 8,488 2
8
1.
11
59 18 74 1 101 150 10 8
228 11
0
234 18 D
150 14
0
28 17 M
£9,011
A
£5,081
R 3
395
1588 1 1 1 1 1 1
885/26
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC-
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE. LONDON
Į
H