78 ] oiirnal of Agriculture. [10 Feb., 1910, 



per cent, proof can be placed before the public in faultless order iix 

 Australia as well as in France. 



* -x- * -x- * 



The vine region of the Midi is, taken on the whole, one of the most 

 interesting in Europe. It is here that the heaviest yields are obtained 

 and that the most recent scientific knowledge has been brought to bear on 

 both vine growing and wine making, in short, that the intense culture of 

 the vine is brought to its highest state of perfection. In Australia, where 

 the common fault of our viticulture, as well of as our agriculture generally, 

 is that it does not constitute intense culture , we have much to learn from 

 this region. The salient features of its viticulture will be dealt with in 

 next article. 



The photographs reproduced in this issue are illustrative of usual 

 viticultural operations in the vineyards, near Montpellier, and do not at 

 this stage require detailed description. 



THE WONDERBERRY. 



E. E. Pescott, Principal, School of Horticulture., Burnley. 

 A considerable axnount of attention is at present being devoted in the 

 columns of various horticultural papers to one of Luther Burbank's so- 

 called innovations — the Wonderberry. This plant is catalogued and sold 

 by various seedsmen and nurserymen as one of the " latest creations" of 

 the " Wizard of America " ; and as it is now being grown in Victoria, it 

 is well to know somewhat of its history. It is an annual, and requires 

 to be propagated from seed in the springtime. Burbank hybridised two 

 varieties of Solatium nigrum, the Black Nightshade, which is so very 

 common all over this State, and, as a result, produced the Wonderberry. 

 Of it, he says — 



This new species bears the most delicious, wholesome, and healthful berries in the 

 utmost profusion, and always comes exactly true from seed. 



Prominent British horticulturalists had their doubts about this berry, 

 -and plants were grown side by .side with several forms of Solanum nigrum 

 to test its value. The berries when ripe were forwarded to Dr. Greshoff, of 

 Haarlem, one of the best known authorities on vegetable poi.sons. His 

 report appears in the issue of the Gardeners' Chronicle, of 30th October, 

 1909 ; and he says that he 



•cannot recommend the use of these fruits as food ; because, although they may differ 

 in the amount of poison they contain, according to the traditions under which they 

 were grown, it will always be dangerous to eat them, and especially so for feeble 

 -children. 



Dr. Greshoff also says that the poison contained in the fruit is that 

 known as Solanin ; and of the varieties analysed, the most poisonous was 

 the Wonderberry ! So that the Wonderberry is nothing more or less than 

 a slightlv variable form of a plant reputed to be poisonous, certainly 

 dangerous at various stages, while harmless at others, which has been 

 growing in profusion for years past on our rubbish heaps and other places 

 where weeds abound. In any case there are dozens of other and better and 

 more useful fruits for human consumption without having recourse to such 

 a plant as the Wonderberry. Plants of it are now being grown at the 

 Burnley Gardens for experimental purposes. Up to the time of writing 

 no fruit has yet appeared on them ; but the plant itself appears to be 

 identical with the common Black Nightshade, both in habit of growth, 

 in foliage, and in flowers. 



