16 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



genous matter in the form of manure composted with sods and muck applied 

 in the autumn, or solutions of guano during the period of growtii ; and lime 

 with its ccmpounds, sulphate and superphosphate. In old vineyards, some of 

 these inili>'ppn8iil)le constituents have douhtless heen taken from the soil, and 

 no equivalent has been returned, and thus the vines were affected with chronic 

 debility, predisposing them to disease and the ravages of parasites. 



If these premises are corract, the appropriate treatment would be to furnish 

 the needed fertilizing ingredients, or to plant the vines in new soils. When 

 the disease is apprehended, or appears in graperies, it may be prevented or 

 arrested by sprinkling the inside border with one pound of sulphur to each 

 fifteen feet square, and keeping the house closed until the fumes of sulphur 

 pervade the whole interior. 



The kind of mildew whicli has attacked our grape-vines, appears in the 

 form of a minute white mould, (botrytis.) which affects the upper surface of 

 the leaves, the young and tender branches, and the skins of the berries, arrest- 

 ing their farther growth. This species of fungus is similar to that which 

 affects peas and gooseberries. The best preventive is to maintain a vigorous 

 and healthy action by the proper food, due aru(mnt of heat and moisture, and 

 a uniform temperature by well regulated ventilation at the top of the house, 

 excluding bottom air until the grapes begin to color, and to scatter sulphur 

 over the floor every year, about the twentieth of June, and first of August. 



The inflimmation of plants ia a healthy process within moderate limits, and 

 is, in fact, the means of repairing injuries. When a branch is cut from a 

 tree, tlie sap exudes, its albumen is exposed to the air, soon hardens, and the 

 wound heals; or if another branch is carefully fitted to it, it becomes the 

 medium hy which a permanent junction is affected. The cultivator of fruits 

 takes advantage oft lis in grafting, to make the scion unite with the stock. 

 But sometimes, when a branch is severed in the spring, the bleeding is so pro- 

 fuse that the sap cannot thus coagulate so as to impede the fartiier exit of 

 fluid. This is illustrated in the grape-vine, but this hemorrhage can general- 

 ly be arrested t)y binding over the wound a dry powder composed of three 

 parts of oyster shell lime, and one part of cheese parings. It is only when 

 the inflamiiiation becomes excessive, that it lesults in disease and mortifica- 

 tion. This is the more apt to occur when the plant is in a bad state of health, 

 from deficient food and circulation. A sudden reduction of temperature or 

 alternation of cold nights and hot days, causes an inflammation of the more 

 delicate varieties of fruits which rapidly end in putrefaction. Good culture, 

 drainage and shelter may prevent or mitigate the disease. 



An abundant exudation of gum often flow3 from stone fruit trees, particu- 

 larly from the trunk and larger branches of the cherry. It is caused hy 

 wounds, too rich soil, or difference between grafted tree and stock. When 

 the bark has been injured in spring before the foliage appears, the sap in 

 descending, oozes out of the wound and condenses into gum, or when tlie soil 

 has been too highly manured, sap is supplied in excess more than tlie tree can 

 approjiriate, and it fills the circulating vessels in the bark to repletion, so that 

 its texture bursts open and gum exudes freely ; or when the stock is more 

 vigorous than the scion, it furnishes more circulating fluid to the tree than 

 the returning sap vessels can hold, and the same effect follows. As the cherry 

 tree di«ilik('S a rich soil, root pruning or replanting in poorer land, or care in 

 eelecting scions of equal luxuriance with the tree into which they are to be 

 inserted, are the remedies. 



Besides tlie diseases already enumerated, there are various chronic morbid 

 affections, which occur in the organs of respiration, circulation and assimila- 

 lation of which examples of the principal are now to be considered. These 

 occasion more mortality than all others. 



Among all the diseases of cultivated plants, mildew from a remote antiquity 

 has been the greatest scourge to the farmer. Scarcely a year has passed when 

 it has not more or less infested all the wheat fields, yet it is only when the 



