STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 221 



Potatoes rot from several causes ; but that which causes at times such 

 widespread injury to tlie croj:) is Botrytis {Peronospord) infestous — a white 

 mould. This first attacks the leaves, then follows down the stem, and 

 finally destroys the tuber. Some varieties are more liable to suffer than 

 others, and as in the wheat, much is due to the weather. 



The cutting-bed fimgus, the plague of the propagator of plants, is a 

 species oi Stilburn ; at least this is true in the green-house of the Indus- 

 trial University. I believe the species we have is undescribed. The cut- 

 tings ** damp off," as the gardeners say — a single day or night often wit- 

 nessing the death of liundreds of previously healthy slips. The threads 

 of the fungus spread with astonishing rapidity through the damp sand, 

 and, as if by magic touch, cause the stems and leaves to decay. Fortun- 

 ately, this can be controlled by reducing the temperature of the bed, and 

 by attention to the light admitted. From experiment thus for, it seems 

 the latter is really the important thing, as a well liglited and ventilated 

 bed is rarely attacked. 



Hundreds of other instances like the above force themselves upon our 

 observation. Probably no plant or animal, living or dead, really escapes. 

 We ourselves become the prey of these offending creatures ; and before we 

 shall fully understand "all the ills that flesh is heir to," we shall be 

 compelled to give them more study, more thorough investigation. 



CRITICISMS. 



The following has been handed to the Secretary for publication, and 

 as fair criticism, given in no hostile mood, is wholesome and may be 

 beneficial, this is allowed a place, in the hope that any valuable hints it 

 contains will be well considered by the officers and members of the 

 Society. 



[Fioni the Chicago Tribunc.'\ 



"MRS. SAM JONES GOES TO THE MEETING OF IHK ILLINOIS STATE 



HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



"Sam had a great (lesiie to aUend the annual meeting of the State liorticidtural 

 Society, to he held at Champaign; and so iie arranged his work, and invited me to go 

 with him. We got there in the middle of the night. It was raining hard, and we had 

 to go two blocks to reach our hotel, but the landlord gave us a room with a stove in it, 

 and had a fire built, and we were soon made comfortable. Some landlords know how 

 to keep a hotel, but not all of them. When jieople come in cold and wet from the 

 train, in the mic^dle of the night, iliey know hmv to appreciate a good warm room to go 

 to bed in, and, in such a case, they feel as thougli they were at home. 



" We had breakfast at seven o'clock. There was coffee, steak, sausage, fried and 

 boiled potatoes, and buckwheat cakes, all of which were nicely cooked ; and Sam re- 

 marked that the cook must be a farmer's wife, for there was no drenching of the steak 

 with pot-grease and flavorings ; and I afterwards learned that the host and his wife 

 were farmers up to within two or three months. Witli such kind of cooking, I knew that 

 Sam would be willing to stay during the entire term of the meeting. 



