216 
THE MEDITERRANEAN NATURALIST 
Besides the destruction of leaves, bunches and 
shoots, the effects of the Peronospora are also to 
be felt in the produce, for the infected fruit 
communicates to the wine a disagreeable bitter 
taste, and the wines produced from the grapes of 
diseased vines are of very inferior quality. The 
discovery of the only remedy for effectually com- 
bating the Peronospora is due to Chanel. This 
remedy is the sulphate of copper. 
It may be applied either as a liquid or in powder 
The most efficacious powder is that composed of 
sulphur aud sulphate of copper in the proportion 
or from .3 to 5 per cent, and should be applied 
when the leaves are still wet with the dew. 
The best liquid remedy is, the simple solution 
of sulphate of copper in water in the proportion 
of from 2 to 3 per milie. 
NOTES AND NEWS. 
Vesuvius active: — Vesuvius is acrain 
o 
active, and considerable masses of lava have 
been flowing into the Atrio di Cavallo ra- 
vine during the last month. 
Sunflower Oil: — The cultivation of the 
sunflower has become an important indus- 
try in Southern Russia, where it is grown 
chiefly for the tasteles oil yielded by its 
seeds. This oil is taking the place of olive 
oils for domestic purposes in that region. 
The pressed seeds and the boiled leaves are 
utilized as food for cattle, while the stalks 
make good fuel. Like the eucalyptus, the 
sunflower dries the soil, and operates against 
malarial germs. 
Our Globe: — According to Dr. John 
Murray the ratio of dry land to water on 
this globe of ours is as i is to 2b nearly 
that is the area of the dry land is 55,000,000 
square miles, while the area of the oceans is 
137,200,000 sq. miles. 
He estimates the mean height of the land 
above the sea to be 2,250 feet, and the mean 
depth of the ocean to be 12,480 feet. 
To our Subscribers: — With number 1 3 
Volume II commenced. We desire to call 
our readers’ attention to the notice having 
© 
reference to subscriptions on the first page 
of the present number. 
A Remarkable Custom: — A singular 
custom, mentioned by Dr. A. H. Post as 
having originated in India, is a symbolical 
marriage with plants, trees, animals or 
inanimate objects. It is believed to avert 
the evil consequences liable to follow a 
violation of traditional ideas. In some 
regions, for instance, a girl must not marry 
before her elder sisters, but in southern 
India the difficulty is overcome by having 
the elder sister marry the branch of a tree. 
Flora of the Mediterranean: — The 
shores of the Mediterranean, the Mare In- 
ternum of the ancients, and” Mare Nostrum 
of Pomponius Mela, include about three 
million square miles of the richest country 
on 1 e face of the globe. In the eastern 
par the flora and fauna do not essentially 
differ from those of Italy: in the west they 
resemble those of Spain. One of the 
noblest of the Atlantic conifers (the Abirs 
pinsctpo) is found also in the Iberian pe- 
ninsula, and nowhere lse in the world, and 
the valuable alfa grass or esparto {Stipa 
tenacissima ), from which a great part of 
our paper is now ma le forms one of the 
principal articles of export from Spain, 
Portugal, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and 
Tripoli. On both sides of the sea the 
former plant is found on the highest and 
most inaccessible mountains, amongst snows 
which last during the greater part of the 
year, and the latter from the sea level to an 
altitude of 5,000 feet, but in places where 
the heat and drought would kill any other 
