BOTRYTIS. 14'5 



Take again the various kinds of hotrytis. 

 There is hardly, on the face of nature, a more 

 common fungus than this. For ages it has 

 met the eye in innumerable fields. The pro- 

 duce is pronounced mouldy : there is an end 

 of it. Scarcely any one has thought of inves- 

 tigating the matter further. In the spring of 

 the present year, (1846,) the hotrytis of the 

 vetch threatened destruction to an immense 

 quantity of valuable produce, and this would 

 have taken place had not the sun shone 

 with great power. But ask almost any 

 farmer what it is ; he knows no more than 

 those who have never seen it. It is enough 

 for him that the plants are mouldy, and it can- 

 not be helped. But science will introduce us 

 to a better state of things. " Onions are mil- 

 dewed," says the gardener. Does he know that 

 this mildew is a hotrytis, called "Destructor," 

 from its ravages? Another hotrytis is found 

 on turnips, and another on nearly all plants 

 where decay has decidedly commenced. Of 

 all the kinds of hotrytis, that which appears on 

 the potato is perhaps the most remarkable ; 

 and its singular connexion with the disease 

 of 1845, and again in 1846, will render it 

 perpetually memorable. To say that the 



