_54 Journal of Agriculture. V icioria. [lo Jan.. 1912, 



The swage block has a number of njunil holes in it which may be 

 used in the place of a bolt- tool. 



The sketch clearly shows the manner in which the fork-tool is utilized. 

 A great many bolts are made with hexagonal heads ; but, as they are more 

 difficult to forge and the square head is likely to fulfil all the requirements 

 of the farm, they will not be described. 



{To be contiuiicd .) 



VINE DISEASES IN FRANCE. 



{^Continued from page OjO. Vol. IX.) 



F. de Castella, Government Yitlculturist. 

 FUNGICIDE SPRAYS. 



Though there is no reason tO' fear that copper sprays Avill ever be re- 

 quired in Victoria to combat the various vine fungi which wreak such havoc 

 in French \-ineyards, since we are protected from them by climatic condi- 

 tions, other branches of our agriculture are vitblly interested in the ques- 

 tion. Orchardists are only too familiar with the need for copper sprays, 

 and. more recently still, potato-growers are being forced to resort co the 

 same specific in order to overcome the Irish Blight. 



The fungus diseases, W'ith which these two industries have to deal, 

 present manv features in common with those against which French ^'ine- 

 growers use such sprays. The mycelium of all these fungi grows in the 

 interior of the tis.sues of the host plant, the spores alone appearing on the 

 outside. They are, therefore, not amenable to direct treatment and can 

 only be fought by the indirect or preventive method. The latter consists, 

 briefiv. in spreading over the whole of the growing surface liable to in- 

 vasion, a very thin coating of a slightly soluble copper salt so that every 

 drop of rain or dew must dissolve sufficient of it to render it an unsuitable 

 medium for the germination of the spores of the fungus. 



In view of this similarity it will no doubt prove of interest and use, to 

 both orchardists and potato-growers, to know somiething of the different 

 •sprays employed in France since there is no country where they are more 

 extensively applied nor where a greater variety of formulae are in general 

 use. In Victoria, so far, we only know copper lime and copper soda. In 

 France, numerous other copper-containing substances are in every-day use, 

 some of which present advantages in certain directions. 



Some idea of the extent to which spraying is practised in France will 

 be gathered from the total quantity of sulphate of copper used for the pur- 

 pose in that country ; this was estimated by Professor Chuard, in 1909, to 

 amount to no less' than 50,000 tons of sulphate of copper annually — a 

 quantitv equivalent to 12,500 tons of metallic copper. This was prior to 

 1910. In view of the extraordinary prevalence of fungus diseases during 

 that disastrous season, even the above huge consumption must ha\e been 

 considerably exceeded. 



Brief reference must here be made to some general considerations 

 which ha\e a bearing on all the different copper sprays. They are all 

 based on the original Bordeaux mixture, the efficacy of which, as a specific 

 against Downv Mildew, was accidentally discovered through the practice, 

 common among se\eral small growers whose vines abutted on main roads, 

 to protect themselves from the depredations of passers, by sprinkling their 



