332 THE NEW GARDENING 



supplement good culture by dusting the bushes with 

 lime and sulphur while they are wet with dew in spring 

 if any big bud has shown on them during the winter. 

 He will argue that when the plants start growing, and 

 the buds become shoots, the mite is exposed, and may 

 be attacked with good prospects of success. One part 

 of lime to two parts of sulphur may be used. The lime 

 should be chalk freshly burned and slaked with a little 

 water, not air-slaked lime. To be on the safe side three 

 dustings may be given through a pair of small bellows, 

 one at the end of March, a second at mid-April, a third 

 early in May. 



A successful Kentish grower of black Currants has his 

 own method of attacking the pest, and it is to smear the 

 bushes with boiled linseed oil about the end of February. 

 His theory is that when the mites come forth their move- 

 ments are impeded by the oil, and they perish. 



Red Currants are not attacked by the gall-mite, but 

 in some districts they are injured by a grub which bores 

 right into the shoots and feeds there. This too is difficult 

 to get rid of, and the best remedy is to spray the bushes 

 in winter with a caustic emulsion. 



The principal enemy of Gooseberries is the American 

 mildew, Sphaerotheca Morsurviae. This is apparently 

 another case of a modern pest developing with high 

 cultivation. There were, it is true, cases of mildew 

 attacking Gooseberries in the old days, but the fungus 

 was not the same as the Sphaerotheca, and was far less 

 baneful. It was confined to the leaves. 



If the Gooseberry-grower observes brown or purplish 

 patches on the upper part of his bushes he may suspect 

 the presence of the mildew, and he is under obligation to 

 report the attack to the Board of Agriculture, who will 

 send an expert to investigate the case. He may report 



