446 



NATURE 



\_Sepi. 5, 1889 



independence a destruction of these invaluable treasures com- 

 menced which has been carried on with remorseless and unre- 

 flecting perseverance, and it appears as though there were at the 

 present day a race against time to complete the havoc. From 

 time to time the consciences of Ministers and Governments 

 have roused them to interfere, but, beyond passing laws 

 which remain a dead letter, hardly anything has been done 

 to arrest the evil. Floods in winter and drought in summer 

 were declared by Mr. Borcbgrave, in 1883, to have already 

 begun to exact the penalty which carelessness or want of 

 foresight must be called upon to pay ; but the peasant 

 and his goats continue their work of destruction, whilst the 

 authorities are apparently more anxious to avoid occasions of 

 discontent which restrictive measures would create than of apply- 

 ing such remedies as legislation has placed in their hands. 

 Whole mountains may be seen completely denuded of timber, 

 with the exception of a low worthless scrub, which were, a few 

 years ago, covered with woods, but which have fallen victims to 

 the innumerable herds of goats which are allowed to browse at 

 will. The peasants amongst whom the land was divided at the 

 time of the Servian independence have cleared vast tracts for 

 the purposes of agriculture, and possess the right of cutting 

 timber for firewood in those forests which are under the 

 management of the different conivntnes. Very little coal 

 is used for household purposes, and the amount of wood 

 required for daily consumption adds enormously to the drain on 

 the national resources. The best-wooded parts of Servia are 

 the districts of the south and south-east, but especially the de- 

 partment of Toplitza, which may be said to contain the only 

 remaining virgin forests of Servia, and whence are annually 

 drawn large supplies of walnut trunks and oak staves for casks. 

 The heights of the Nischava Valley, Stalatz, and Krushevatz 

 furnish excellent building timber. Oak fjrests are abundant on 

 the Turkish frontier of Vrania. Walnut trees, which attain to 

 an enormous growth, have been mercilessly dealt with, the value 

 of this timber having attracted the attention of Austrian mer- 

 chants, who send agents to choose and cut the wood for 

 exportation. The fir and juniper are found in the central and 

 western valleys, and on the great Kopavnik Range on the south- 

 east, the pine on the heights of Zlatibor. 



Herr Trognitz contributes to the last issue of Peter- 

 mann's Mitteihingcn the results of calculations which he has 

 made of the areas of the various South American States. These 

 are baped on the maps in the latest edition of Stieler's Atlas, 

 which are compiled from the latest official and other information. 

 The figures are in square kilometres. 



Brazil 



French Guiana 

 Dutch ,, 

 British ,, 

 Venezuela ... 

 Columbia ... 

 Ecuador ... 

 Peru 

 Bolivia 

 Chili 



Argentine ... 

 Uruguay ... 

 Paraguay . . . 



Total 



8,361,350 



78,900 



129,100 



229,600 



1,043,900 



1,203,100 



299,600 



1,137,000 



1,334,200 



776,000 



2,789,400 



178,700 



253,100 



17,813,950 



The Colonies and India reports from Tasmania that a move- 

 ment is on foot in Hobart f)r the creation of a University. A 

 notice of motion directing attention to the desirability of such a 

 step was given in the Council of Education by the Minister of 

 Education, and the subject was to be considered at a meeting 

 on June 19. "We hope to hear that it has been favourably 

 considered, as the colony is quite prosperous enough to main- 



tain such an institution, and it would be one which would be- 

 extremely useful, as well as being to some extent an adornment 

 to the picturesque capital of the Island Colony." 



Mr. G. W. Roosevelt, American Consul at Bordeaux, in a-, 

 report on the treatment of diseases of vines in France, says that 

 in spite of the numerous inventions meant to destroy Phylloxera, 

 it still continues its ravages. One of the most recent plans is 

 that of an American, Mr. L. H. Davis, who inoculates the vine, 

 through a carefully made excision, with a preparation which he 

 claims is destructive to the Phylloxera, while it leaves the vine 

 uninjured. It is too soon yet to speak of the results of this plan. 

 Dr. Griffin advocates a distribution by a machine constructed by 

 him of a substance which can be used in either a dry or a liquid 

 state. Last spring he operated on a vineyard placed at his 

 disposal by the French Government, and had the satisfaction of 

 seeing the vines treated by him sound and healthy, while other 

 plants in the same vineyard were perishing. The most generally 

 employed remedy has been found to be very serviceable, and free 

 from the danger that was thought to follow it — that is, the sub- 

 mersion for not less than forty days in carbon of sulphur dissolved 

 in water. In light permeable soils a strong mixture is used, but 

 on hard soils a weaker solution is better. Within the past few 

 years the actual area of the vines destroyed by this pest is 

 1,200,000 hectares, or, roughly speaking, one-half of the vine- 

 yards of France ; and if we remember that a hectare of vines is- 

 worth about 6000 francs we can see what a terrible loss France; 

 has suffered. In the case of Oidium. as in that of Phylloxera, 

 no positive remedy has yet been discovered, but the usual mode 

 — that is, the application of sulphur, pure or mixed — checks the 

 disease, and at the same time helps the growth of the vine. In 

 fact, so great have been the good results of the use of sulphur, 

 that it will for the future be used in most vineyards, even where- 

 Oidium does not exist. Till the year 1885 no remedy was known 

 for mildew. Since that year, however, salts of copper have 

 been successfully employed, though there is some doubt whether 

 that substance is really beneficial to the vineyards. The most 

 general method is to pluck off the diseased leaves and burn 

 them. Besides these there are other methods, such as the use of 

 honillic bordelaise, eau celeste, ammoniate of copper, and verdi- 

 gris with powdered sulphate of copper. On account of the 

 recent appearance of the disease called black rot, no satisfactory 

 remedy has yet been tried. With regard to anthracnose, if steps 

 are taken early in the spring, the disease may be brought under 

 control. Perhaps the best remedy is a mixture of lime and 

 sulphur. A first sulphuring is given when the shoots are four or 

 five inches long ; then, if lesions appear, the operation is re- 

 peated in about a fortnight with a mixture of lime and sulphur, 

 the proportion being one part of sulphur to three of lime. A 

 mixture of plaster and sulphate of iron has al?o been very 

 successful. The only really efficacious remedy for pourridie is 

 by removing and burning all roots showing traces of the disease. 

 Erinnose may be treated like mildew — that is, by repeated 

 applications of sulphur. 



A REPORT on the appearance of the Ilessiai fly in this 

 country, by Mr, Charles Whitehead, the Agricultural Adviser, 

 has been issued by the Agricultural Department of the Privy 

 Council. The fly was first seen in 1886 in Great Britain, and 

 in that year did some harm to wheat and barley plants in Eng- 

 land and Scotland. In 1887 it was noticed in twenty counties 

 in England and ten in Scotland, wheat and barley crops being 

 considerably damaged by its ac'.ion. The weather during the 

 summer of 1887 was hot and dry, like that which normally 

 prevails in America, and was presumably favourable to the 

 development and progress of the fly. During 1888, when the 

 summer was unusually wet and cold, very little was heard or 

 seen of the Hessian fly either in England or Scotland. But 



