MONTAGNE ON VINE MILDEW. 11:^ 



finally to indicate the present state of the question. I do not 

 conceal from myself the difficulty of the task, nor the feebleness 

 of my own powers for its accomplishment ; I trust, however, to 

 make up any deficiency by my ardent desire to be useful. 



Historical. All the authors who have treated of the Vine 

 Mildew have properly inquired whether there are any indications 

 of it in earlier times. Many have gone back as far as Theophi'astus, 

 the author of the most ancient work on Botany. Two passages 

 appear in this author, who lived three centuries before the 

 Christian era, which have been supposed to indicate the existence 

 of the same malady in those remote ages. The first passage is as 

 follows : — " Such are the diseases and affections of the trees 

 themselves. There are also diseases of the fruit, as for instance 

 that of grapes called Kpaix^os (burnt or scorched), which resembles 

 rust. For it takes place when the sun burns more vehemently 

 after the falling of the dew. The same thing happens also to the 

 leaves." 



It is easy to perceive that this malady of the bunches, which 

 the Greeks call KpaixjSos and which Theophi-astus compares to the 

 rust of corn, has no relation to the Oidium ; at the furthest, we 

 find only the brown spots on the berries and leaves which are 

 produced by the Oidium ; but even this much is uncertain. 



The second passage is a little more explicit, but not much more 

 conclusive. " There is also another disease in the olive trees 

 called Arachnion. It is produced on them and destroys the fruit. 

 The rays of the sun, also, sometimes burn the olives, grapes, and 

 other kinds of fruit." 



Such are the words used by the author, in which it is clear 

 there is no mention of any disease, but a mere intimation that, 

 like other fruits, grapes are sometimes injured by the rays of the 

 sun when unusually fierce. 



Pliny, however, who has reproduced this passage, explains the 

 term Arachnion and extends it to grapes, of which Theophrastus 

 does not say a single word : — " Est etiamnum olivis et vitibus 

 (araneum vocant) cum veluti telse involvunt fi'uctum et absumunt." 



This is all that appears on the diseases of gi-apes in ancient 

 authors, and even this must be strained to accommodate it to the 

 present malady. We may, however, allow that there is, if not a 

 perfect identity, at least a very great analogy between the Arachnion 

 and our mould. I shall only remark that Theophrastus and Pliny do 

 not insist sufficiently on its injurious influence to make us think 

 that at this remote epoch its diffusion was as extended and its 



