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JOURNAL OP HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ November 22, 1877. 



— first, it has frequently beenobserved that the Potato disease 

 made its appearance three days after a thunderstorm if the 

 weather continued wet or damp, but if the weather was fine 

 very little disease appeared. If this is a faot that can be borne 

 out by general observation, it would lead me to suppose that 

 excessive wet after dry hot weather had produced disease and 

 not electricity. Second, the illustration which is quoted 

 in support of the theory is worthy of notice. That the 

 disease attacked a plot of Potatoes in a diagonal direction is 

 to me no illustration whatever, for it appears to be at variance 

 with all the known laws of electrical phenomena. The elec- 

 trical current could not have been confined within the space 

 described unless there was a more highly conducting medium 

 running in that direction, which is improbable ; and if so, under 

 such circumstances it could not have injured the Potatoes." 

 With these remarks I am inclined to agree, and think that 

 electricity has little or nothing to do with the origin of the 

 disease ; however that may be, it is certain that the disease is 

 worse in Gloucestershire than it has been for many years, and 

 that there has been a remarkable absence of thunderstorms. 



I will then for the present abandon the idea of electricity as 

 having anything to do with the origin of the disease, and will 

 endeavour to start another theory, which if proved would 

 satisfy all the conditions required, and explain where the 

 disease originated, bow it came here, and why it did not show 

 itself before the year 1845. But in order properly to support 

 my theory it is necessary for me to give what some of your 

 readers may think rather a too lengthy description of several 

 of the new plants, insects, and diseases which have lately 

 appeared in this country, the origin of some of which is 

 known; for it is only by practically investigating all the 

 known facts relating to the new insects and other diseases 

 that have of late years bsen introduced into this country, most 

 of which seem to point to a common origin, that we can hope 

 to advance our knowledge of the subject. ■ 



Some years ago a strange weed appeared in our brooks and 

 rivers— the Anacharis canadensis. It flourished and spread 

 amazingly and became a regular nuisance, almost filling up 

 the watercourses, and has continued so down to the present 

 time. I have seen various ways mentioned to account for its 

 introduction to this country. One report said that a savant 

 grew it in a pond in his garden for experimental purposes, and 

 it spread from thence to the neighbouring streams. But how- 

 ever it got here, there is no doubt whatever as to its origin. 

 The plant is well known. Now, if this had only been a fungus 

 or other small plant-growth not well known or observed, how 

 very difficult it would have been for us to account for its 

 presence and sudden appearance with us. 



Again : About the year 1845 a disease very mysteriously 

 appeared which attacked the Vines. It was a species of 

 fungus called the Oidium Tuekeri. It was very prevalent in 

 this country, and spread over a great part of the Continent. 

 Mr. Don, a Portuguese merchant, wrote a pamphlet on the 

 Vine fungus, with suggestions as to the remedy. After 

 speaking of the devastating nature of the disease he goes on 

 to say, " There are eeveral circumstances which lead to the 

 proximate cause of this so-called disease, is to be found in 

 some abnormal condition of the atmosphere, in conjunction 

 with a diminished power of resistance from other causes in 

 the Vine itself." He then proceeds to show that the disease 

 was derived from the atmosphere, because he managed to 

 preserve his own Grapes by brushing the fungus off with a 

 camel's-hair pencil; but this, of course, only showed that it 

 passed through the atmosphere, not that it was caused by it. 

 He then attributes the commencement of the disease in Portugal 

 to the fact that the soil was not properly cultivated in the 

 three or four years ending in 1852, and that there was not 

 sufficient rain to cause the young stems to decay, which, by 

 the way, were the only manurial dressing the Vines had. He 

 then further says, " In 1851 the rain came down in October 

 and lasted with little intermission until May, 1852, of which 

 year the spring was cold, wet, and late. In May vegetation 

 became rank and luxuriant ; the Vines produced branches of 

 twice or thrice their usual length, and formed leaves of enor- 

 mous size, and these Vines were not sufficiently pruned, and 

 so the Vine was well prepared in the following year to become 

 an easy prey to the Oi'dium Tuekeri, which, unlike other fungi 

 except mildew, which it resembles, is not so ceremonious as to 

 watt until its victim is dead and decaying before making its 

 attack, but appears on the contrary to fasten on its living 

 j uices with a pertinacity so great that the weakened resistance 

 of the Vines generally has not been able to shake it off. In 



cold and damp localities, where vegetation was most rank, it 

 appears to have revelled in excess." 



On reading the above one would almost think he was writing 

 on the subject of the Potato disease, and the Peronospora in- 

 festans particularly, aa he refers to the electrical state of the 

 atmosphere ; but it is not of thunderstorms and the highly 

 electrical state of the atmosphere that he complains, but of 

 the entire absence of them. This pamphlet was, no doubt, 

 highly interesting and instructive at the time, but the writer 

 fell into several errors. The disease did not originate in 

 Portugal as he thought. It was known in France several years 

 before it appeared there. According to Mr. Berkeley, a good 

 authority, this Vine disease first appeared in Ea'st Kent in 

 1845, and was in 1847 recognised as a parasitic fungus to 

 which the name of Oidium Tuekeri was given, after the cul- 

 tivator who first studied its growth. The origin of this disease 

 as far as I know has never been satisfactorily made out, but I 

 suspect its American origin, for although the disease was 

 carried to the United States with exported Vines s all the va- 

 rieties of the Vitis Labrusea, from which all the better quality 

 of the American Vines have sprung, whether in their own or 

 foreign countries, were remarkably exempt. However that may 

 be, it is a consolation to us to know that a remedy was found, 

 and that if the leaves of the Vine were well damped and then 

 powdered over with sulphur the Oidium Tuekeri was subdued 

 or kept within reasonable bounds. — Amateue, Cirencester. 



FOECING ASPAEAGDS— ARTIFICIAL MANURES. 



Although artificial manures may be applied with great 

 advantage to Asparagus when growing naturally in the beds I 

 do not think they are much benefit to it in forcing. We cut a 

 good dish of Asparagus on the 17th inst. from a dungbed 

 under glass. After the roots were put in and covered with 

 soil a quantity of nitrate of soda was spread over one end of 

 the bed. The same quantity of salts of potash was sprinkled 

 over the other end, and the centre part was left without any 

 artificial dressing. The produce of this part is just as plenti- 

 ful and strong as either of the ends. If it is not an unchemical 

 way of expressing it, I think the Asparagus grows in too short 

 a time when forced for the manure to be utilised to any great 

 extent, and therefore it is unnecessary to apply it. — J. Muie, 

 Margam. 



THE DAELEY DALE NUESEEIES. 



This year the Fates sent me to Derbyshire, and my wander- 

 ings took me to Darley Dale, famous for its magnificent church- 

 yard Tews — probably the finest in England — and so it came 

 about that I found myself a visitor to the Darley Dale Nurse- 

 ries. I went to Darley Dale expecting to find a small country 

 nursery ; for was I not far away from the centres of trade ? I 

 had for some days previous been a sojourner among the plea- 

 sant dales of Derbyshire, and had often spent hours without- 

 seeing a single fellow creature ; so somehow I fancied as I neared 

 my destination I should find a email place where possibly I 

 might see some few things more or less cultivated, and also, 

 perhaps, nothing worth recording. I gained admission to the 

 nursery, not through the main entrance, but through one of 

 those. quaint narrow openings between two upright stones oddly 

 enough called " stiles " in Stonyshire, and soon found myself 

 among evidences that there was more to be seen at Darley Dale 

 than I had counted on. There were all about me signs of great 

 activity. I saw the squat propapating frames, so familiar in our 

 nursery grounds, in large numbers and in every direction. I 

 braced up my expectations to a higher pitch as I gradually neared 

 the bouse and offices. It was not long before I made my way to 

 Mr. Smith's house, a well-fashioned old stone edifice, the walls 

 of which are plentifully adorned with suitable vegetation. The 

 preliminaries over, I was introduced to Mr. Herbert Smith, 

 who courteously undertook to be my guide, and without loss 

 of time we set off on an expedition of sight-seeing. My com- 

 panion informed me that he would first take me to one of their 

 nurseries called " Siberia " some two miles away, and situated 

 on some table land 1000 feet above sea level, to reach which 

 we had to walk along, or rather climb up, the road leading 

 from Newhaven through Darley to Chesterfield. Bat though 

 the road was steep the surroundings were most charming, and 

 were rendered doubly so by the rich autumnal tints which 

 prevailed everywhere. 



I learnt that the Darley Dale Nurseries consist of some 

 140 acres, lying about in various portions of the dale and; 



