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Professor Srb was told before he left the U. S. for a year's sabbat-ical study in Edinburgh that Americans have an annoying habit of alwaysstarting their lectures or seminars with a funny story and that he was notto do so if at all possible. However, hoping I will not get a reputation foralways closing on a humerous note, I will finish by asking a question 'howdoes one treat a mountain lion, cougar or jaguar (or whatever you liketo call it) with respect?' I was presented with a guide to the RockyMountains soon after arriving there and it said just that. I always hadmy hunting hat at a suitable angle to touch quickly if I met a cougar butalas I didn't. I am not so sure now that this was the way the respectshould have been exhibited.

Plant Pathology Field Day.A party of about 50 assembled at the Unilever Research Laboratory,

Colworth House near Bedford for the first Field Day to be organised bythe Federation of British Plant Pathologists. lifter a cup of coffee and afew words of i nt r oduc t ion from Dr. R. Lester, the Divisional Manager ofthe Plant Products Division, the party divided, half to spend the morningwith the demonstrations staged in and near the glas shouse s, and half tovisit the field experiments, changing areas after lunch.

The first demonstration, by L. Champion on internal browning ofBrussel Sprouts, brought out at once the exacting nature of much of thework at Colworth, which provides research services in the agriculturalfield for Unilever subsidiary companies, which include such householdnames as 'Birds-Eye' and 'Batchelors'. With Brussels sprouts for thefresh vegetable trade, 100/0 or more affected by internal browning is per-fectly acceptable, but in frozen vegetables, little more than 10/0 can betolerated. This search for near perfection is challenging to the path-ologist and physiologist, and the theme recurred repeatedly with theother crops being studied.

The problem of Halo Blight on dwarf beans was demonstrated byA. Wharton. This disease first became important in 1964 following itsappearance in 1963 in the seed producing areas of Idaho (U. S. A.). From1 to 20 primary foci of the disease arising from infected seed can initiateserious epiphytotics, and to detect this infection, which amounts to lessthan 10 infected seeds per cwt, an ultra-violet fluorescence test has beendeveloped. The importance of selecting and using only healthy seedstocks was shown by W. G. Kovachich in the field, where neither seedtreatments nor Perenox sprays controlled the disease effectively.

Virus diseases demonstrated by Mrs H. Smith were Evesham Stainof broad bean caused by the broad bean stain virus, and pea early brown-ing virus. With both these diseases, the most promising control prospectis the use of resistant varieties, and indeed one of the most importanttasks of the section is selecting disease-resistant varieties, includingscreening for disease resistant material from the plant breeding section.

This theme was further developed in the. demonstration of MrWharton's work in Grey Mould (Botrytis) of dwarf beans, which wasinitiated because of the increasing factory costs involved in removingpods blemished by the fungus. Preliminary studies in the glasshouse

W.J.B.

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showed that pods were infected only from mycelium established fromspore infections of attached flowers or other moribund tissues. Togetherwith field observations the studies are designed to provide informationfor chemical control trials next year and also to indicate any desirablecharacters by which cultivars might avoid infection.

Selecting varieties for disease resistance, yield and quality madeup a major part of the field trials demonstrated by Mr Kovachich andL.J. Taylor. Here some of the points made in the glasshouse demon-strations were well illustrated in practice.

In addition to the work on plant disease s, intere sting demonstrationswere staged by L.H. Jones onpea growth analysis trials, and by H. Ensoron field trials of he rbicide s.

The final impression left by a day marked by the high standard ofboth the demonstrations and the hospitality of our hosts, was of the inti-mate relationship between the research in progress and its application inpractice. Although pure research has its undoubted fascination, therecan be no denying the stimulus provided by the urgent demand for results,and the knowledge that these results will very quickly find practical app-l.i.cation.

NEW MEMBERS

Bahadur ALI, M. Sc , ,Agricultural Botany Dept . , University College ofWales, Aberystwyth, Cards.

Miss A.E. ASHFORD, B.A., Botany Dept, The University, Leeds 2.P.G.AYRES, B.A., Agricultural Botany Dept. , The University, Reading.Miss L. V. BEDFORD, B. Sc., 161 Broughton Road, Banbury, Oxon.Miss M.E. BLUNDELL, B.Sc., 158 Otley Road, Leeds 16.Miss F. BOARDMAN, B.Sc., Botany School, Trinity College, Dublin 2,

Eire.G. BROWNING, B. Sc., 46 Chevening Road, London N. W .6.O.A.BRUSIS, M.D., 29 So. Prospect, Burlington, Vermont 05401, USA.D.A.E. BUCKLE, M.Sc., National Institute of Agricultural Botany,

Huntingdon Road, Cambridge.J.T. DAKWA, M.Sc., Imperial College, Field Station, Sunninghill,

Ascot, Berks.Mrs E.M. DAVISON, B.Sc., C.R.K., Pathology Dept, Southmead Hos-

pital, Westbury-on-Trym, Bristol.D. J. DICKINSON, B. Sc . , Botany Dept, The Univer sity, Hull.Miss B.E. DIXON, B.Sc., 6 Harvest Road, Feltham, Middx.M.P. EARLY, M.Sc., 18 Lister Street, Rotherham, Yorks.H. EHLE, Ph. D., Dip. Ag., 6 Frankfurt/Maine, Techenheim, Leo-Gans

-Str. 54 West Germany.J.F. FARRAR, 12 Furness Park Road, Barrow in Furness, Lanes.R.E. GAUNT, B.Sc., Botany Dept, The University, Southampton.W.C. GREENAWAY, B.Sc., 92 Kinveahy Gardens, LondonS.E.7.M.J. GRIFFIN, B.Sc., Botany Dept, The University, Hull.J.H. HAINES, M.S. Botany Dept, Oregon State University, Corvallis,

Oregon 97331, U. S.A.D. J. HITCHMAN, B. Sc . , Alexandra Court, Woodborough Road, Notting-

ham.T. HONGO, D. Sc . , Biological Inst, Faculty of Education, Shiga Univer-

sity, Ishiyama, Otsu, Japan.