Grape Mildew. — "\Vo cut the fulhnving from a French publicaticm. With rcferenco to 

 tlie use of coal tar, we would enforce great care in its application ; its baneful effects on 

 iollage are well known. Skillfully applied to the stems while the vines are defoliated, 

 taking care to omit the buds, the remedy is with time, and may be interesting to those 

 wlio are troubled with this pest: 



" M. KivKT states that in 1847 lie was invited by Dr. Lozk to examine a sort of wine to 

 which extraorilidary pvopertias were attributed. Another invitation to the same effect was 

 received in 1849 from M. Souleyet, wiio spoke highly of tlie efficacy of this wine in curing 

 some diseases. jM. Kivet found iodine in the wine ; and he learned that the vines which pro- 

 duced it were not attacked by the Oidium, and that M. JIouries had effected remarkable cures 

 among vines by manure containing iodine. Having made some experiments, the following facts 

 were elicited : 1st. Manure produced by the fermentation of marine j^lants has been employed 

 in sorae parts of Spain since 1835. The soil which has received this manure contains, on the 

 average, 1-60U00O part of iodine. The vines which grow in it have never, up to the present 

 time, been attacketl by the Oidium. 2nd. The wine made from these vines has some peculiar 

 qualities. In commerce, where it is rare, it bears the name of Malaga Rives de Mer. It is of 

 all vegetable productions the richest in iodine, containing on the average 1-50000 part of that 

 pi'inciple. 3rd. Iodine found naturally in plants or animals possesses an action which, by its 

 nature and intensity, cannot be produced by its chemical preparations. M. Diuot pointed out 

 the absence of Oidium on vines, the wood of which had been smeared over with coal tar. ' 



M. LAPiERRE-BEAurRE Stated that according to his observations the mildew does not attack 

 the stem; the vines which were diseased in 1852 even appear to have for the most part escaped 

 in 1853. It was stated b}' M. Pascal that acetate of lead prevents the development of Oidium 

 and other cryptogams. M. Sourpette proposes a simple and inexpensive preservative, which 

 has proved successful in some experiments made during two years in the neighborhood of Bor- 

 deaux. In order to prevent and arrest tlie development of the Oidium, it is sufficient, three 

 weeks after pruning the vine, to smear the stem and shoots with pure liquid tar, applied with 

 a large brush. This operation costs very little, and has proved very successful on all the 

 plants on which it has been performed, even although they were in the midst of infected vines. 

 — Comptes Rcndus. 



An officer of the Navy, lately at Valparaiso, writes us: "I thought of you the other day 

 when looking at an Araucaria Imbi-icata, forty feet high, which stands in the midst of a public 

 garden here — a sort of nursery garden, in which there are many things which would please 

 you and those of your friends who delight in ti-ees and flowers." 



Indeed it would! Our own plants have stood the late trying winter better than some others 

 of the new Evergreens, and we confess to having some hope of naturalising this Araucaria to 

 our midland climate. 



Novel Experiment. — Dr. Daube_ny lias been trying to throw light on a question often raised 

 by geologists: "Whether organic life ever existed in the scries of recks below the Silurian — in 



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