Dr William Black's potato research in Edinburgh, Scotland

Searching for the Perfect Potato: Inoculating a potato plant with virus by rubbing juice from an infected plant onto the leaf of an uninfected plant. The infected leaf is placed between a piece of muslin and squeezed onto a leaf impregnated with carborundum powder to assist penetration of the virus. Scotland still leads the world in potato breeding. It was Dr. William Black of Boghall Farm near Edinburgh, Scotland, who discovered the world's best and flawless potato in 1946 after working on it for 20 years and called it the Craig's Bounty'. Research still goes on to counter Stunt Diseases in potatoes and the various odd ailments that affect it. Dr. Black continues his researches with other experts like Dr. G. Cockerman and Dr Mairi R McGhee at the Scottish Plant Breeding Station at Cortorphine, Edinburgh, in the hope they will be able to immunise all types of potato plants and tubers from the dreaded warts and blights. Experiments are being made with grafts on the Solanum Demissum, a wild Mexican species which is immune from blight and is used for breeding blight resisting potatoes. A special type of Chinchilla rabbit is bred to help researches. Over 2, 000 varieties of potatoes including many types grown in other parts of the world, are grown and tested in field plots, and if they are found to be up to a given standard the breeders submit their seedlings to the Department of Agriculture and Seed Testing Station next door to their own headquarters

Restrictions Only for United Kingdom

Able Affect Ailments Assist Blight Blights Boghall Bounty Bred Breeders Breeding Chinchilla Cockerman Continues Demissum Discovered Dreaded Experiments Experts Flawless Grafts Immune Immunise Impregnated Infected Inoculating Juice Leads Mairi Mcghee Muslin Onto Penetration Placed Plots Potato Potatoes Powder Researches Resisting Rubbing Searching Seed Seedlings Solanum Squeezed Submit Tested Tubers Varieties Virus Warts

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