292 INSECTICIDES, FUNGICIDES, AND WEED KILLERS. 



marc, and grapes from vines treated with mercury salts. It follows 

 from their analyses that grapes and the products of their fermenta- 

 tion only contain traces of mercury, without danger to the consumer. 

 Berthelot followed this note, presented to the Academy of Sciences, by 

 the following remarks : " The effects of the doses of mercury found by 

 the above authors on products consumed daily and in a prolonged 

 manner ought to be regarded as suspicious and dangerous ". It is thus 

 prudent and reasonable only to apply the mercurial treatment on such 

 organs of plants as are not consumed, or in winter applications. 



Phytophthora infestans, De By. (potato disease). — This disease has 

 been circumscribed by adding corrosive sublimate to the soil. This 

 treatment is, however, too costly. 



UstilaginecB (smut diseases). — Bolley found that the disinfection of 

 seed-corn against Ustilago Borcleih, Pers., by corrosive sublimate gave 

 superior results to that done with blue vitriol, formaline, hot water, or 

 potassium sulphide. 



Uredinea (rusts). — Sublimate has been used preventively against 

 the rust of cereals by Hitchcock, Carleton, and Galloway. This sub- 

 stance has given worse results than blue vitriol : a 0*1 per cent solution 

 has little effect, a 0-01 per cent solution is without action. 



Fusarimn roseimi. — Mangin advises to overcome this disease 

 by disinfecting the soil with corrosive sublimate. 



Guignardia Bidivelli, V. and R. (black i-ot of grapes). — The 

 action of corrosive sublimate on the spores of fungi has been com- 

 pared with that of blue viti'iol, and, as has been shown, it is ten times 

 stronger. Some vine-growers have used sublimate in place of cupric 

 bouillies in the treatment of black rot. Cazaux and Quentin declare they 

 have obtained decisive results very superior to those obtained by cupric 

 bouillies. The latter obtained a perfect result on a portion of a vine- 

 yard, on a low, wet situation, favourable to the development of 

 cryptogamic diseases, and whose crop it had never been possible to 

 preserve entirely ; it even stopped an invasion of black rot in full evolu- 

 tion on the grapes. These vines were treated with four sprayings with 

 a 2 per cent bouillie bordelaise containing 1 per cent of sublimate. The 

 plots treated with pure bouillie bordelaise did not nearly give so good 

 a crop as those treated with the sublimate bouillie. The winter 

 treatment, consisting in coating the stems with a solution of sublimate, 

 is greatly recommended against this formidable disease. 



Disinfection of Flower Seeds. — Hiltner advises steeping for two 

 hours in a 0"l-0-2 per cent solution to disinfect flower seed from 

 plantations invaded by this redoubtable fungus, or purchased fromi 

 outside. This treatment does not injure the germinative capacity of 

 the seed, even if the steeping lasts eight hours. 



Use against Insects. — Conchylis ambigndla, Hubn (cochylis of 

 the vine), Tortrix vitana (pyralis of the vine). — Barbut tried with 

 mediocre success solutions of corrosive sublimate to destroy cater- 

 pillars of butterflies. It has been remarked, however, that vines treated 

 against cryptogamic diseases by mercurial bouillies no longer suffer 

 from these caterpillars. 



Aspidiotus Auranth (cochineal of the orange-tree). — Destroyed 



