New York Agricultural Experiment Station. 353 
half of the 3 r ear, which prevented the spores from finding sufficient 
moisture to germinate readily on the surface of the green parts and 
become established. 
Disease of the Clover-leaf Weevil. — Only one larva of this insect was 1 
found in the spring of 1887. The fungous disease of the larvae, 
described in the two preceding reports, appears to have nearly exter- 
minated the insect from this locality. 
Peach Curl. — The early part of the season of 1887 was unusually 
dry. Whether this prevented the development of the curl or not is 
uncertain, but for some reason it was almost entirely absent this year. 
Usually the peach trees of the Station have lost considerable of their 
foliage by June 1st on account of it, and suffered much in consequence^ 
If it arises each season chiefly from mycelium remaining in the tree 1 
over winter, as is certainly the case to some extent, it is difficult to 
understand why the dry weather should have interfered so much with 
its development. On the other hand, if it starts each season chiefly 
from the germination of spores carried to the surface of the tree by 
the air, it is easy to see that a dry atmosphere would give little chance 
for the requisite moisture to enable the spores to start into growth, 
and thus the trees would be saved from the disease. The latter view 
is strengthened by the observation made two years ago that when all 
limbs showing any trace of the disease were kept cut away during the 
whole of the growing season, the tree showed no sensible decrease in 
the amount of curl the next year. 
Gooseberry Mildew. — Foreign varieties of the gooseberry when grown 
in this country are so generally attacked and injured by mildew that 
their cultivation is not commonly attempted, and then rarely with 
success, although the fruit is much larger and finer than that of the 
native varieties. The particular mildew which in Europe is called the 
gooseberry mildew, or " blight " as the English usually speak of it 
(Microsphoera Grossularioe Lev.), is not the one which interferes with 
cultivation in this country. Our gooseberry mildew is a species of 
Sphaerotheca. It has been referred to as Sphaerotheca pannosa Lev. by 
Bessey * and others, a species which infests the leaves and stems of 
roses and peach trees in both Europe and America, but, as pointed out 
by Burrill,f it is doubtless a distinct species that was first described 
by Schweinitz J under the name of Erysiphe Mors-uvae, and is now 
*Erysiphe, p. 3; Bulletins Iowa, Agric. Col., Nov. 1884, p. 141; Arthur in 
Trans. Iowa Hort. Soc, 1883, p. 315. 
t Bulletin 111. St. Lab., vol. II, p. 399. 
t N. Amer. Fungi, p. 270 
45 
