THE MEDITERRANEAN NATURALIST 
losses that they had sustained during the preced- 
ing seasons. No time was lost in sowing the 
second crop, bat from information that Ave have 
received from different parts of the country we 
learn that the produce has been a total failure 
owing to the wholesale attacks of the cryptogram. 
Phj/tophthora infestans which have so impover- 
ished the potatoes, as not only to retard their 
growth, but also to cause the plant to rapidly die 
off and rot away. 
The disease usually attacks the foliage first, 
which it causes to rot away rapidly and the leaves 
become covered with brown spots, which show a 
whitish, shiny, downy border. 
In warm, damp weather the fungus quickly 
spreads; the spots turn brown, the leaf becomes 
flabby and decomposition rapidly sets in. 
The tuber itself is also often attacked. 
It remains hard, but shows a number of brown 
spots; and when cooked it has a very disagreeable 
taste. 
The disease seems to predominate in the eastern 
parts of the island, especially in those localities 
where the phosphate beds of the Globigerina Li- 
mestone do not crop out. In the valleys, and 
towards the plateaux in the west where the hill 
and valley sections expose the phosphate seams 
the attacks of the fungus 1 ave been comparatively 
slight, and in some localities, quite unknown. This 
I believe is attributable to the fact that the potato 
belongs to that class of vegetable life which de- 
pends very largely on phosphates for their suste- 
nance, and therefore, where the soil is deficient in 
these, the impoverishment of the plant pre-disposes 
it to the attacks of diseases such as that which we 
are noAV considering. 
Several methods to prevent the spread of the 
disease have been tried, of which the following- 
may be recommended as being the simplest, chea- 
pest, and most efficacious. 
The soil, and the leaves of the young plant were 
sprinkled Avith a mixture consisting of 
Sulphate of iron 1 o z. 
Water 4 gallons, 
the effect of which was to protect the plants so 
effectually that not a single leaf so treated showed 
any sign of the fungus. 
19o 
This mixture not only protects the plant by 
destroying the fungus spores in the soil, or 
preventing their propagation, but it also invi- 
gorates it, and there is no doubt but that if 
adopted on a large scale it Avould be attended 
with the most beneficial results, and would do 
much towards eradicating one of the most per- 
nicious pests that the Maltese agriculturist has 
to contend with. 
J. H. C. 
On the Meadow of Nysa in Asia Minor 
BY 
Capt. R. Mooke, R.N. (1) 
Any researches which throw light on the topo- 
graphy, history, or archaeology of so interesting and 
so imperfectly explored a land as Asia Minor, 
appear to me worthy of record, and I therefore 
venture to give a brief account of an excursion I 
made some years since to the ancient city of Nysa 
and its neighbourhood. 
Nysa Avas a Greek city situated on the north 
side of the Meander valley, and on the lower 
slopes of the Messogis range, occupying a highly 
picturesque position and retaining many remains 
to attest its ancient magnificence. It is now easy 
of access by means of the Ottoman Railway, which 
in 1881 Avas extended to Nazli, for it lies within 
tAvo miles from the station of Sultan Hissar. The 
site has rarely been visited by travellers and more 
rarely described. Chandler visited it in 1765, 
Fellows in 1840; but, since the publication of his 
second tour, I am not aware that it has been 
described by any traveller. Texiers account of it 
is a compilation, he had not visited the site. 
Neither Arindell nor Van Lannep, the most recent 
travellers it Asia Minor, visited it. The earliest 
description, and perhaps the best we have of it, is 
that of Strabo (XIV, I, 43-46), who tells us it 
rested against the Messogis, and Avas intersected 
by a mountain torrent which divided it into two 
parts, so as to make it appear a double city. 
“In one part (he tells us) the chasm is span- 
ned by a bridge; in another the city is adorned 
( 1 ) Read before the Archaeological Society of Rome. 
