102 JOURNAL OF THE EOYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



ON THE PRESENT ASPECT OF THE EPIDEMIC OF THE 

 AMERICAN GOOSEBERRY-MILDEW IN EUROPE. 



By Ernest S. Salmon, F.L.S., F.R.H.S. 



The American Gooseberry-mildew (Spho&rotheca inors-uv(B (Schwein.) 

 Berk. & Curt.) was recorded from Ballymena, County Antrim, Ireland, 

 in 1900. This was the first appearance of the disease in Europe (1).* I 

 have described in two recent accounts in this Journal (Bibliogr. 2, 3) the 

 gradual spread of the disease in Ireland in the succeeding seasons of 1901 

 and 1902, and also its appearance in Russia. I have now to record the 

 continued increase of the disease in both Ireland and Russia. From the 

 reports and specimens sent to me during the last season by numerous 

 correspondents, I can state that in Ireland the American Gooseberry- 

 mildew now occurs in nine localities in six counties. From Russia it is 

 reported from ten widely separated districts. 



At the risk of repetition I cannot refrain from urging here that 

 vigorous steps should be taken at once by the authorities to stamp out 

 this disease in Ireland. 



The historic case of the outbreak in Europe of the Vine-mildew- -a 

 fungus closely allied to the Gooseberry-mildew— affords an example of 

 the immense and wide-spread economic loss such a disease as the present 

 one can cause. 



The Vine-mildew — a fungus native to America — appeared in Europe 

 for the first time on hothouse vines at Margate in 1845. The next year it 

 spread in the hothouses of that neighbourhood. In 1847 it was reported 

 from one locality in France. In 1848 it occurred in several localities in 

 France, and in Belgium. In 1850 the vineyards round Paris were 

 devastated, and the disease was reported from Spain and Italy. In 1851 

 the disease was general in all the vineyards of France, and in those of the 

 Mediterranean basin ; and it was reported from Hungary, Greece, 

 Switzerland, Syria, Asia Minor, and Algeria. Except in the neighbour- 

 hood of Paris and in the province of Piedmont, where it wrought whole- 

 sale devastation, the damage caused by it as yet was not serious, except 

 in a few isolated localities. In 1852, 1853, and 1854, however, all the 

 French vineyards, without exception, were invaded to such an extent that 

 their yield was reduced to a tenth or twentieth, and the effect of the 

 epidemic on the economic conditions of the country was such that in 

 certain districts the population emigrated. In all the countries affected 

 Government Commissions were appointed to investigate the matter, and 

 Consular Reports were also issued.t The disease had now reached its 

 climax, and in 1855 it was less- devastating, and the harvest of the vine- 



* See Bibliography at end of article. 



f Some idea of the consternation caused among viticulturists and the agricultural 

 authorities in these years, and the enormous loss to the revenues of the countries, may 

 be gathered from contemporary articles ; see H. von. Mohl in Botan. Zeitung, 1852, 

 1853, and 1854; Montagne, in Jonrn. Hort. Soc. ix. (1855). See also Viala, 

 Maladies de la Vigne, 1893. 



