! 
: 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION, July 28, 1857. 
264 
the recent heavy rains the flavour was not quite equal to its 
usual standard; but its capability for travelling was well 
illustrated by this exhibition, and the variety was considered 
| to have fully sustained the opinion entertained of it at 
former Meetings. Mr. Yates reported that he had grown an 
I acre of it, and found it surpass all other kinds for pro- 
! ductiveness and general market purposes. 
Mr. James Small, of Colnbrook Nursery, Slough, exhibited 
a fine basket of Ingram’s Prince of Wales from plants which 
i had been in bearing since the 9th of June, when the first 
fruit was gathered. He specially exhibited them that they 
might be distinguished from Cuthill’s Prince of Wales, with 
which variety it was confounded, and he considered the 
character of the former had suffered from such confusion. 
The fruit exhibited was very large, firm, and full flavoured: 
it was considered superior in flavour to the examples of 
Sir Harry which were before the Council, but about equal if 
allowance were made for difference of latitude, distance of 
carriage, &c. It was mentioned by members of the Council 
present that its flavour was rather variable, but much finer 
this year than they had known it before. Mr. Small re¬ 
ported that he found the variety remarkable for the length 
of time the fruit kept good after it was gathered. 
Mr. George Thompson, of Bramham Park, Tadcaster, 
Yorkshire, exhibited a specimen of a Strawberry supporter, 
which was much commended for its simplicity and cheapness, 
as well as for its apparent suitableness to the purpose. It 
I consists of a simple ring of No. 10 (B.W.G.) galvanised iron 
; wire, having three legs, about twelve inches long, of the same 
material. In fixing the leaves and fruit-stems are drawn 
together by the hand, the ring placed over them, and the 
legs (which are moveable) distributed to proper distances, 
! and fixed in the ground as far as necessary. Not the least 
j amongst its merits is that when out of use the legs go close 
i together, and many hundreds of them may be hung up 
' within a very small space. 
REARING GOLDFINCHES. 
Goldfinches’ nests will be found in hedges and Apple 
and Plum trees. The eggs are whitish, marked with red 
spots. Nestlings may be taken in May, but not till well 
feathered, as they are tender birds. Wrap them up warm, 
and feed them on the crumb of white bread soaked in milk, 
and then mashed into a paste with well-soaked rape seed. 
When full grown feed them on mixed rape and canary 
seed, and sometimes a bit of groundsel. When moulting 
give chopped egg and soft sponge cake crumbled. They re¬ 
quire plenty of water for washing themselves in. Gold¬ 
finches need some care to rear, and are naturally delicate. 
Their most general complaint is a sudden falling down in 
fits, and they generally die in this way. They may be caught 
by suspending a bundle of thistles well smeared with bird¬ 
lime to a branch of a tree, and letting it swing with the wind. 
The plumage of Goldfinches is very beautiful, and their song 
is sweet and continuous. The cocks are distinguished from 
the hens by their higher colours, and the red of the head 
extending beyond the eyes. 
In conclusion, let me tell the bird-keeper that he cannot 
commence bird-keeping with a better songster than the sweet- 
toned, beautiful, and sprightly Goldfinch.— Rueis Amatoe. 
ON THE VINE MILDEW. By Hugo Von Mohl. 
(Translated from Botanische Zeitung , Aug. 19, 1853.) 
Dueing the last two years the disease was first observed, 
as well in the Tyrol as in Italy, after the Vines had blos¬ 
somed and the ovaries had begun to swell. In the present 
year the malady appeared, if not sooner in point of time, 
still at an earlier period as regards the development of the 
A ine; for, in consequence of the cold, wet, unfavourable 
weather, the vegetation was many weeks behind that of 
former years, so that at the time of writing this (on the 
29th of June) all the Vines at this place are not yet out of 
flower. Amici wrote to me from Florence on the 8th of 
June that \ine branches were brought to him the day before 
lrom the country, whose tendrils and unopened blossoms 
were infested with the fungus. The first diseased Vines 
which I met with were at Venice on the I5tli of June, on 
which day only a few scattered blossoms were expanded. 
The Vines of the Botanical Garden, as well as the vineyards 
of Murano, exhibited the disease, though only to a small 
extent. The peduncles and divisions of the blossoms, more 
especially, were infested with the fungus, which existed, 
though in small quantities only, on the bark at the lower 
end of this year’s shoots, and also on the leaves and ten¬ 
drils. I had doubtless overlooked the presence of the 
fungus for some days, but the mode of cultivation of the 
Vines in practice there, on high trellises, is, even with the 
help of a ladder, unfavourable to constant observation. The 
whole spring was unusually wet, and both immediately before 
and after the appearance of the disease the rain fell in 
torrents every day. This extreme moisture, combined in 
June with a rather high degree of temperature (72,5° Fahr.), 
■was doubtless favourable to the development of the fungus, 
for news of the eruption of the malady arrived from different 
parts of the Continent a few days after. The malady, which 
had been observed ten days previously, first occurred to me 
at Bozen on the 23rd of June, already very generally diffused 
and in a higher state of development than at Venice, for 
not only the larger discoloured spots covered with mould, 
of which I have spoken in my former memoir, appeared on 
the bark of the new shoots, and the leaves were in part 
sensibly powdered with white dust, but the fungus was not 
rare on the young ovaries, which had attained two or three 
times the magnitude they had when the blossoms were first 
expanded, whereas at Venice two days previously they were 
still free. 
Whether this early irruption of the disease is attributable 
to the unusual moisture of the present year, or whether it 
was simply observed at an earlier period than last year, 
because of the greater attention paid to the subject, must 
be left for future inquiry. 
In consequence of the very great economical importance 
of the cultivation of the Vine in Italy, the malady has natu¬ 
rally engaged during the last two years the attention of 
many of the best observers in the country; and in several 
places, as at Florence and Venice, commissions have been 
established for its investigation. The principal point of 
contention to which these inquiries have given rise, and 
which in a certain quarter has been carried on with more 
vehemence than was quite seemly, is the question whether 
the Vines themselves are diseased, and the fungus is a con¬ 
sequence of the disease; or whether, on the contrary, the 
Vines themselves are healthy, and the disease is the conse¬ 
quence of the influence of the fungus on the plants, and 
carried by means of the parasite from one plant to another. 
On another occasion I remarked that in consequence 
of the morbid appearances connected with the presence of 
the fungus being confined to the outer strata of the green- 
coloured organs, and in particular to the outer coat of the 
bark, the vegetative powers of the Vines had suffered no 
essential injury, and that consequently it was to be hoped 
that the health of the plants would not be impaired the 
following year, since the inner coats of bark as well as the 
wood appeared sound in that respect; so that, in general, 
only such parts were injured as must naturally perish in 
the course of the ensuing winter. This supposition that 
the general health of the Vine had suffered no injury has 
been fully established in those districts which I have lately 
examined (as also appears from information transmitted 
from every part of Italy), though they have suffered more 
or less during the two previous years, for the development 
of the shoots of this year has been most luxuriant, and the 
plants exhibit as vigorous a vegetation as can be seen 
anywhere. In this respect not the least difference can be 
found between those Vines which have never suffered from 
the malady and those which have been its victims for one 
or more seasons. 
My observations of this year agree also with those made 
in Switzerland in this respect, that as regards the physical 
conditions of the locality, the geognostic character of the 
subsoil, the dryness or moisture of the place, the exposure 
to different quarters of the skies, &c., no definite relation 
could be found between any of them and the appearance of 
the disease. Greater differences of site cannot be imagined 
than between the vineyards of Murano, which are planted 
in a constantly wet soil, situated but a few feet above a sub- 
