332 On the Hop, 



under that name is in every respect so inferior a fruit, that I 

 can hardly believe it to be the true one. There is also another 

 kind, which, from its being a late ripener, is worth notice ; 

 the berry, in point of shape, colour, and hairiness, may be 

 said to be a gigantic modification of the champagne, but is far 

 inferior to it in flavour, and scarcely of so deep a red ; it is, 

 however, a useful gooseberry, and a good bearer. The shoots 

 are not straight z.vA upright, like those of its prototype, the 

 champagne, but are more inclined to the arching form. I 

 may add, that there are some smooth white gooseberries, of a 

 very sweet and luscious flavour, which ought to find a place 

 even in a limited collection. Yours, Sec. 



Coventry, Dec. 20. 1830. B. 



Among white gooseberries, no gardener should be without 

 Woodward's Whitesmith, which, although neither smooth 

 nor small, is of excellent flavour, and bears abundantly ; it 

 will, moreover, hang long on the bush. — J. D.for Cond. 



Art. XXVIII. On the Hop, its Blight and Remedij. By John 

 Murray, Esq. F.S.A. F.L.S. &c. 



Sir, 

 To insure the hop, which may be termed the vine of Eng- 

 land, from insect spoliation, must be allowed to be a question 

 fraught with much commercial importance. The leaf and 

 flower are affected with honey-dew, as it is called, and this 

 occurs under peculiar circumstances, and is a phenomenon 

 standing in some relation to specific changes in the atmo- 

 sphere. It is unnecessary here to enquire whether it be a 

 secretion of aphides, as Mr. Curtis supposes ; or a morbid 

 secretion of the plant itself, as the late President of the Lin- 

 nean Society contended for ; or if there are varieties inde- 

 pendent of each other in their sources of production. The 

 saccharine exudation on the leaves of the O'rnus rotundifolia 

 (the Calabrian manna ash), &c., may well be adduced to 

 favour the opinion that it might be a secretion of the plant. 

 Now such a secretion would become a powerful point of insect 

 attraction, as are the nectaries of flowers ; and it is also cer- 

 tain that aphides are found in numerous cases where honey- 

 dew abounds, though it would be difficult to decide which is 

 the cause and which the consequence. In a vigorous-growing 

 plant, insect spoliation will be found a rare occurrence. Ge- 

 nerally speaking, it is not the imago but the larva that does 

 the mischief. Thus Linnaeus inferred that the flowers of the 



