262 Annual Report for 1906 f of the Consulting Botanist . 
4 lb. of lime, 4 lb. of copper sulphate or blue stone, and 50 
gallons of water) would be beneficial. 
Early in the year were received some gooseberry shoots 
which had died back. These had been attacked by a parasitic 
mould, Botrytis cinerea Pers. The thick greyish cushions of 
this fungus were protruding through the bark of the dead shoots. 
There was an abundant production of spores. The member 
had sent some gooseberries last year which were attacked by 
this same mould. It destroyed the tissues of the berries 
just as it destroyed in the following spring the tissues of 
the young shoots. But the injury was this year much more 
serious. This fungus is common on any decaying vegetable 
matter. It can live on dead as well as on living tissues, and 
it is therefore difficult to deal with. The gooseberry bushes 
affected had been recently planted, and had not rooted down 
firmly, but encouraged by the warm spring a good growth had 
been made. The early autumn of last year probably had not 
ripened the wood, and the shoots were not able to resist the 
frost. Plenty of spores of the mould were about from the 
diseased berries rotting on the ground, and they germinated 
on the shoots and killed them. The member was advised to 
remove carefully any affected branches or fruit, put them in 
a vessel where they would not be carried off by the wind, and 
burn them. Spraying would be very difficult to perform 
efficiently. 
Some twigs of gooseberry bushes were recently forwarded 
by the Education Department of the Worcestershire County 
Council on behalf of a member of the Society. They had 
been attacked by the fungus, Sphcerotheca Mors-uvce Berk, 
and Curtis, popularly called the American gooseberry mildew. 
The rusty brown fungus grows on the surface of the young 
twigs of this year’s growth. It obtains its food by sending 
suckers into the living cells of the bark, and so weakens and 
distorts the twig. Small globular bodies are developed from 
the mycelium. These contain a small sac (ascus), enclosing 
eight spores. This is the winter or rest stage of the fungus 
(see Fig. 3). At present the whole future of the fungus is in 
these spores. In the spring the round body bursts, and the sac 
with its contents escapes. The spores push their way out of the 
sac, and when they fall upon the young leaves or opening bud 
of the gooseberry, they send out a fine white thread (mycelium), 
which grows and branches on the surface of the leaves, and 
obtains its food also by the suckers it sends into the cells on 
which it rests. This is the mildew stage of the fungus. From 
this mycelium are produced simple erect branches, each bear- 
ing a single string of ovoid spores. These are produced in 
great numbers, and give at this stage a powdery appearance 
