§ MR. W. JOHNSTON (Belfast, S.)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, whether the Irish Land Commission have made experiments with the Strawson process for the prevention of the potato disease in Ireland; and, if so, what, have been the results?
MR. J. MORLEYField experiments for testing the value of applications of 1546 copper sulphate, and lime to the potato plant, as a preventive of potato disease, were carried out by the Agricultural Department of the Irish Land Commission in the years 1891, 1892 and 1893. The results obtained from the experiments conducted in 1892 and 1893, proved conclusively that a proper application of the mixture used is of great value as a preventive of potato disease; it was not, therefore, considered necessary to continue the field experiments in 1894, but field demonstrations were given in a small district of the counties Derry and Antrim in that year, the same mixture, being used, The firm of Messrs. Strawsons, Limited, supply a concentrated mixture of copper sulphate and lime for application to the potato plant by spraying machines in the ordinary way, but this special mixture was not used in any of the experiments or demonstrations carried out by the Land Commission.