§ MR. LAURENCE HARDY (Kent, Ashford)To ask the hon. Member for South Somerset, as representing the President of the Board of Agriculture, whether in the sixty-eight recent outbreaks of the American goose berry mildew in the summer stage, attributed by them as probably due to imperfect pruning, the plantations, in which these outbreaks or any of them have occurred, had been passed by the Board's inspector as properly pruned according to the requirements of the order of the Board.
(Answered by Sir Edward Strachey.) The plantations to which the hon. Member refers were, with one exception, to all appearances pruned as required by the Board's order, and their inspectors reported that no further visits were necessary before the summer. The Board recognise that disease is likely to recur in certain cases, and therefore provided in their American Gooseberry Mildew Order of 1907 that no infected premises should be freed for twelve months after disease last appeared there, so long as any bushes remain on the 746 premises. The gardens will of course be kept under observation during that time.