FLOWERLESS PLANTS. 341 
nately, the native vines of America are not subject to it, 
even when cultivated m proximity, on the European Conti- 
nent. 
This fungus plant is easily destroyed by dusting on them 
flowers of sulphur with a soft brush, when the fruit is well 
set, about the size of a pea. One application, the Hon. 
George Hobler, of Alameda, assures me, has proved an in- 
fullible remedy with his foreign grapes; had he known its 
value sooner it might have saved his English gooseberries, 
which he had plowed up and cast away in utter despair. 
Currants, and other fruits, are also victims at times. Indeed, 
one species, Oidium albicans, called Thrush, grows in the 
mouths of children. This can be transplanted and eulti- 
vated; a weak solution of potash or saleratus will dissolve 
out the albumen and leave the plant wholly exposed and 
unchanged. Now, the use of this knowledge is, that the 
same law and similar remedies are indicated here, as where 
it attacks the vine, namely, to kill the parasite and cure the 
disease. It is always pleasing to be able to see in rational 
light why our grandmothers were right in being so partial to 
sulphur. One dram of sulphite of soda to an ounce of 
water is a sure cure. 
The Oidium fructigenum is often seen in whitish puberu- 
lent spots of a greenish gray on oranges ; and on apple trees 
it destroys the fruit while still hanging to them; beans, 
plums, peas and hops, ete., are also often destroyed, or much 
injured by its ravages. 
A digression into the rationale of remedies for these evils 
would greatly interest us, but we must forbear; they turn, 
however, upon a tew simple physiological facts —in a word, 
the Flowerless Plants on land or sea have an oily or shiny 
coating to the spores, neither the sea water nor air actually 
touch them; but the moment this adhesive oily or mucila- 
ginous matter is destroyed, they perish ; hence the use of ley, 
lime, ashes, etc., together with many chemical washes. 
It is impossible in a short article like this to dwell upon 
