23G STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



"The group to which this particular fungus belongs is, however, tolerably 

 constant in character. The genus Sjjhaeria is well defined, if we include the 

 newer genera, made out of the old genus by later writers, more for the con- 

 venience of treating of so vast a number of species, it seems to us, than on 

 account of difference worthy of generic distinction. These carbonaceous, pap- 

 illate fungi are so well defined in their peculiarities as to be readily identified 

 by those familiar with their forms. Yet even these vary ; and, when closely 

 proximate forms are found on different plants, a question arises whether they 

 are identical or not. The growths of the wild cherry {Cerasus Serotina) are 

 often covered with a fungus very similar to the SpJiaeria Morhosa. Indeed, 

 almost any woodland border will furnish plenty of specimens. The perithecia 

 are smaller and are sometimes prolonged into a short beak. The cherry belongs 

 to the same order as the plum ; and it may be that this parasitic fungus infests 

 both, but is swayed by influences in both plants so as to develop differently. 

 We have seen branches of the cultivated cherry similarly affected. The size of 

 the spores is considered a good specific character, and yet these vary. 



" It has been thought by some that the peculiar growth of the bark which 

 bears this fungus is occasioned by the sting of a curculio ; but anyone familiar 

 with the stroma of fungi will understand that this growth is characteristic of 

 a whole family, and arises, not from insect poisoning, but from fungoid influ- 

 ence. The insects seduced by its soft, pulpy character in its early stages, may 

 deposit there their eggs, and it is not unlike the flesh of unripe fruit in text- 

 ure, at one period. Various methods have been devised to stay the ravages of 

 this fungus. Sulphur placed in holes made in the trunk of the tree, has been 

 resorted to ; but we imagine that there are no sure preventives. When we re- 

 member the excessively minute size of the spores, we can understand that they 

 may be absorbed with the nutriment of the tree, or taken into the stomata of 

 the leaves, and carried into the tissues. Fungi infest wild plants as commonly 

 as cultivated ones, — a proof that their occurrence is not necessarily due to an 

 unnatural or deteriorated state of the plant they attack.'' 



In taking leave of this abstruse and difficult subject, we may indulge the re- 

 mark that, although the article just quoted gives abundant evidence of the 

 thorough acquaintance of the writer with his subject, and notwithstanding the 

 evidence he so clearly deduces to establish his case, it is a recognized scientific 

 fact that fungi usually attack only diseased or decaying vegetation ; and, as is 

 notoriously the case with the fungus attendant upon pear blight, the most 

 careful observation is liable to be at fault in any attempt to determine whether 

 this fungoid growth is to be taken as the cause or the effect. In view of these 

 considerations, it seems at least possible to entertain a doubt whether the fun- 

 gus attacking the plum tree really either precedes, occasions, or constitutes the 

 malady in question, or whether, on the other hand, it merely finds, in the al- 

 ready existing but undeveloped disease, the proper conditions for the develop- 

 ment of its growth. 



We may also further remark that all the theories of this disease seem to co- 

 incide in the promulgation of essentially the same remedy — that of cutting 

 away all diseased growth — to which some add the application to the wound of 

 a disinfectant, calculated to effectually neutralize any possible remaining 

 diseased matter. 



RED SPIDER. 



Some years since, in at least a portion of this State, the plum tree, for several 

 years, suffered from the premature ripening and drop^oing of the foliage. This 



