No. 199.] 503 



so bad on the sea coast as in the interior, and this is taken to be proof 

 that salt air is unfavorable to it. The average annual loss of wheat in 

 England by this disease is estimated as great as from five to seven 

 bushels an acre. A certain preventive would be worth millions of 

 pounds sterling a year. Heavy fog, stillness — muggy weather ^ (if we 

 may use so common a term) favor the production of mildew. Some 

 consider the disease as a cause preventing the sap from reaching the 

 grain, often spoiling the straw ; some believe it to be a fungus, which 

 draws away the proper nourishment of the grain. 



Dr. Underbill. — There are several diseases, generally carelessly call- 

 ed Mildew, or Blight, or Rust — very different from each other. What 

 the absolute cause is, is difficult as yet to decide. Where there is in 

 plants unusually large quantities of sap, it is not properly digested, 

 often gorges the sap vessels, and occasionally bursts them ; this is a 

 cause of mildew. Sudden rains often give a sort of plethora to plants, 

 and cause much ill-prepared sap. In such cases the interior of the 

 gooseberry swells, and often bursts the skin, which when mildewed, is 

 hide-hound. For the gooseberfy when attacked is generally about two- 

 thirds grown only. 



I have sometimes found fruit to burst without the mildew being 

 upon it. Some say that mildew is like the missleto — a parasite. It 

 is an effect of hot sun on very damp soil. I have put clay on the loose 

 and porous soil of my Croton Vineyard, in order to cause heavy rains 

 in some measure to run off. Having been troubled with mildew, I 

 discovered that my tall close forests surrounding my vineyard, and 

 the tight fences, and the close hedges, all prevented a free and proper 

 circulation of air. 1 have altered all that. I have opened the forest, 

 taken down the fences, and opened ray hedges by trimming them 

 several feet from the ground. Beforo this ventilating system, by 

 which I have let in even the heavy blasts of air which I had formerly 

 shut out, I have already saved hundreds and thousands of pounds of 

 grapes. 



One said, make a hole near a bush, and there will be no mildew. 

 Now that hole receives the water drained from the soil about the ' 

 bark. It is a drain. The fogs and mists of England are favorable 



