On September 13th 1845, there was another dramatic paragraph in The Gardeners’ Chronicle: “We stop the Press, with very great regret, to announce that the Potato Murrain has unequivocally declared itself in Ireland; for where will Ireland be, in the event of a universal potato rot.”
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[In 1892] the technology of it was simple enough – so far as the farmers were concerned – but success depended upon using properly made mixture and applying at the right time.
One way of diffusing the necessary information was by means of printed leaflets. But a great many of the farmers in England and in Ireland – though not in Scotland – were illiterate. In time, with the help of the priests in the pulpit and the teachers in the schools, the message that there were advantages of using Burgandy Mixture very slowly became apparent to the farmers.
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The product was put on the market with tentative recommendations for use in 1931 under the trade name of “Bouisol”. This refined colloidal preparation proved its worth; it won an established place among the really scientific chemical therapeutants for use on plants.
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With Bouisol, one of the disadvantages of the traditional Bordeaux and Burgundy mixtures was at once overcome: the requisite quantity of liquid had merely to be run out of the barrel and poured into the water in the spraying machine; all the labour and delay involved in preparing copper mixtures on the farm was eliminated.
