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 and 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, &c. 



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 Remedy. Bv 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 rotund ifolia 

 (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 Inisehief. Thus Linnaeus inferred that the flowers of the 



