liV PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



another tub 50 kilos, of water and two of lime. The sulphate of 

 copper having been dissolved, and the lime well soaked, the two 

 liquids are then mixed. Cold water is used and slaked lime. 

 Formerly small brooms made of Heather or Butchers' Broom 

 were used to sprinkle the liquid on the vines. Several varieties 

 of syringe are now used. It was at first hoped that the Bouillie 

 would destroy both the mildew and the Oidium. Up to the 

 present time such has not been the case ; and if the mildew is 

 absolutely destroyed by this treatment, the use of sublimed 

 sulphur has to be continued against the Oidium. 



Sulphate of Iron as a Remedy against the Potato Disease.— 

 Rev. G. Henslow quoted the following passage from a report by 

 the late Professor G. Gulia, of Malta, upon the Orange disease, 

 but bearing on the question of the destruction of vegetable para- 

 sites : — " Having watered two Aralias, three Begonias, an Orange, 

 and several Rose bushes, with a solution of sulphate of iron, in 

 the proportion of six grains to one litre, these plants, far from 

 sustaining any injury, seemed to gain intensity of colour to their 

 chlorophyll, and their buds shot with greater rapidity and luxu- 

 riance. Towards the end of the past year, Potatoes were attacked 

 by Phytopthora infestans, to such an extent as to impoverish 

 and destroy the crop of the greater number of fields, especially in 

 the eastern districts of the island. In a small field adjacent to 

 others infected by the fungus, the ground was sprinkled with the 

 solution prior to the sowing of the Potatoes ; some young plants 

 sprang up, and the crop was so abundant as to astonish the cul- 

 tivators of the neighbouring fields, who were seized with a longing 

 to adopt the method in question. Not a single leaf of these 

 plants bore the fatal fungus. This was certainly due to the 

 sulphate of iron, which had destroyed the spores buried in the 

 soil, and rendered the plants so vigorous as to impede the growth 

 of the pernicious fungus." 



Colours of Floivers, Experiments on. — The following com- 

 munication was received from Mr. Smee : " Some years ago, 

 when experimenting with flowers and plants placed in a weak 

 solution of silicate of soda, I noticed that the plants and flowers 

 were affected by the solution according to their colour. The 

 colours disappear in the following order : blue, lilac, red, and 

 brown, whilst yellow was the most persistent. Greens behaved 

 according as blue or yellow predominated in its composition. 



