404 MISSOUKI STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



by other means. Let us not forget that the fungus involved is a real 

 plant which is at all times as subject to its environments as are the 

 larger plants with which we are much more familiar. The disease on 

 the other hand is a pathological condition of the affected tree, shrub 

 or herb. The fungus is not the disease, but the agent which brings about 

 the conditions of disease, and removal of it, will sometimes result in a 

 restoration of normal, healthy condition, but in the great majority of 

 cases, the diseased condition once established, the removal of the fun- 

 gus can not restore health. It is almost impossible to find a remedy 

 that will cure the disease caused by fungus. You may cut off the fungus 

 and the remainder of the tree may be healthy. The knife is the only 

 remedy. 



Treatment. — Ever}'- parasitic fungus should be removed before 

 it reaches its contagious period. The dead leaves and twigs killed by 

 the fungi of the preceding summer should be burned during the fall 

 and winter, lest they afford shelter to the resting fungi. There are 

 many substances which are poisonous to different parts of the fungi, 

 and which maybe used in their destruction. Sulphur, and the many 

 sulphuric compounds, are efficacious, if used in the case of those fungi 

 which are upon the infant plants. 



HOW FREEZING BENEFITS THE SOIL. 



It is a well-known fact that water in the act of freezing, expands 

 considerably, and with a force that is irresistible. It is the freezing of 

 water in their crevices and pores that causes the rocks to be gradually 

 worn down and "weathered," as it is called, into soil. It is this also 

 which is continually reducing the soil to finer fragments, and which 

 breaks up the hard clogs and mellows the ground. Fall plowing or 

 spading assists this effect by breaking up the compact soil into lumps, 

 which are further broken into small particles. As water and air can 

 only act upon the surface of these particles, it is clear that the smaller 

 they are, the more surface is exposed to the weather, and the soil is 

 made soluble. If a block of hard soil of 12 inches cube is exposed to 

 the weather, there are 864 square inches only of it affected ; if it is broken 

 up into cubes of one inch, 10,368 square inches are exposed to these 

 beneficial influences; if the soil is further broken up into fragments of 

 one-twelfth of an inch, there are more than 124,000 square inches thus 

 affected. This fact shows how greatly the effects of frost benefits the 

 soil, and therefore how necessary it is that the land should be fall 

 plowed and opportunity given for this beneficial action of the weather. 

 In the garden, even, all the soil possible should be spaded before it 

 freezes. — American Agriculturist. 



