STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 55 



way and is never healthy. Part of it is killed by the winter frosts, and what is not, sur- 

 vives in sneb an unhealthy condition as to affect the constitutional vigor of the plant the 

 succeeding year. In the grape and pear it Is either rot on the fruit, and blight on the 



leaves, or both. 



In the apple and cherries it brings forward blooms in fall as it did in 1867, and followed 

 by blighi of the Bpring bloom without any assignable cause, as in the spring of the pres- 

 ent year, 1868. Late summer rains after a protracted drought are the exciting cause to 

 this Becond growth, but it is also brought about by high cultivation and manuring. In 

 1856, I planted 40 pear trees, and lost only one to this date by blight, and that was the 

 pre- ut year. Accidcntly, my gardener, misunderstanding the directions, spaded around 

 it before I was aware what he was doing. I told him he bad killed it, and in three 

 month- it had completely died. All my trees stand in a gooseberry patch, and I give 

 them no cultivation whatever. The gooseberry bushes keep the ground clean, and also 

 gather for a mulch the leaves drifted about by the autumn winds. 



Dr. Hull cultivates his, but counteracts the stimulating effect of cultivation by root 

 pruning. The philosophy of his method is two fold. First, the tree, instead of spend- 

 ing its vigor above ground by extending both wood and foliage, is busied underground in 

 repairing damageB. Secondly, the roots being cut, cannot engorge the leaves with a 

 surplus of water, bo as to force a second extension of foliage to work it up. The remedy 

 for pear blight, then, is anything that prevents a second growth. I prevent it by not 

 cultivating and keeping the ground cool and shaded by gooseberry bushes. A neighbor 

 prevents 11 by having a heavy sward of bluegrass ; and Dr. Hull by root pruning. All 

 these concur in one point, they prevent gross feeding and over-stimulation. The disease 

 in the grape is more formidable, but is governed by the same principle. By midsummer 

 the foliage is eaten up by fungi, and the brown withered leaves drop, the sickly foliage 

 that follows can indeed prolong life till the next season, but not give vigor enough to 

 bear the exhausting process of fruit bearing. In their feeble condition they ought to be 

 protected from the winter frosts, for this will aggravate the disease. But to discover a 

 remedy inu-t be the work of future observation and experiment. 



I thank you most heartily for your kind attention to these rambling remarks, and 

 would say more if I thought it would edify you, which I think it will not. 



Hull — I am confident that fungi attack healthy vegetable tissues, 

 because I innoculated healthy trees with the fungi, sent me by Judge 

 Brown, and communicated the disease 



Long — Here are some fungoid growths on the wild plum, (show- 

 ing the black knot.) I think fungi never attack healthy wood. My 

 currant bushes are sometimes attacked by a fungoid growth. 



Tice — Dr. Hull's specimens may prove to be more than one fun- 

 gus. Fungus must be kept isolated when observed, by sealing them 

 up between plates of glass or mica. 



Turner — (in explanation of his use of the word eryptogamous, 

 which had been criticised by Mr. Tice). I use the word eryptoga- 

 mous in its popular sense. I doubt the distinction between phceno- 



