RELATIONS OF' BOTANY TO AGRICULTURE. 431 



only those who can produce such can hope for distinguished suc- 

 cess. Even the age of the vine influences in a noticeable manner 

 the quality of the wine, — so that in Burgundy, where there are 

 productive vineyards two hundred years old, it is said the worth 

 of a vineyard, as determined by the value of its product, cannot 

 be known before the end of thirty years from its planting. In the 

 Azores, young orange-trees bear fruit with a thick skin and many 

 seeds, while trees one hundred years old and more, produce a 

 much more valuable fruit with a very thin skin and no seeds. 

 Around London are twelve thousand acres of land devoted to the 

 raising of vegetables, and six thousand acres to the production of 

 fruit ; and even in this limited area the quick-witted market gar- 

 deners have learned that each locality has its peculiar adaptations, 

 and the principal crop of each is regulated accordingly, so that, 

 the main supply of each variety is grown in one particular section. 

 In like manner, the finest damsons in England are said to ripen in 

 Cheshire ; and near Paris, one town in a favored site, Montreuil, 

 sends to market remarkably fine peaches, to the exclusion almost 

 of those from other localities. Doubtless many similar instances 

 of special adaptations in raising fruits or vegetables occur in this 

 country. The importance of attending to this subject will not be 

 questioned. 



The necessity for the application of botanical knowledge to 

 agriculture is again clearly shown by the recent investigations 

 concerning those microscopic fungi, which are among the most 

 destructive enemies of cultivated plants, and often suddenly blast 

 the hopes of the farmer and gardener. The Report of the Com- 

 missioner of Agriculture, for 1871, contains an interesting article 

 on the fungi found on the fruit of the pear, tomato and grape, and 

 the foliage and bark of the peach, the vine and the lilac, with 

 excellent illustrations and many useful suggestions respecting 

 their nature and treatment. The disease called the yellows, 

 which — though unknown in Europe, where more shelter is given 

 to fruit-trees — has almost entirely deprived Massachusetts and the 

 whole of New England of the most delicious of our fruits, appears 

 to be only the result of the growth of a fungus, which our pecu- 

 liar climate fosters. That,careful observation and experiment will 

 devise some means for its suppression, there can be no reasonable 

 doubt. Can we afford to neglect longer the means which are 

 necessary to accomplish this most desirable result, as well as to 

 aid us in preserving from similar destruction, the foliage and 



