558 THE GARDENER. [Dec. 



matter and give rise to the formation of carbon dioxide (carbonic acid) 

 nitric acid, and ammonia, but its use too largely often caps (as it is ex- 

 pressively called) the ground, probably induced by killing that most 

 useful of God's creatures, the earthworm, and so terminating its 

 labours for the good of mankind. 



The gardener will do well to avoid the use of the word stimulant as 

 inapplicable to what are called highly concentrated manures. No such 

 stimulant exists, nor does the structure of a plant apparently warrant 

 the application of the word. Such highly concentrated manures are 

 simply nourishment placed within the reach of the roots of the plant 

 at the time it was ready and willing to assimilate it. 



He should learn to identify some of the commoner forms of fungus, 

 which he will often hear called cluster-cups, brand, mildew, smut, 

 mould, or blight, &c, such as rcestelia on the Pear leaf (Rcestelia 

 cancellata), Berberry cluster cups (iEcidium berberidis), Rose brand 

 (Aregma mucronatum, Lycthea rosae), Corn mildew (Puccinia graminis), 

 Hollyhock mildew (Puccinia malveacearum — common on Althaea offici- 

 nalis and Malva sylvestris), Rose rust (Phragmidium mucronatum), 

 white rust on cruciferous plants (Cystopus candidus), Potato mould 

 (Peronospora infestans), Pea mould (Peronospora viciae), Rose blight 

 (Sphaerotheca pannosa), Hop blight (Sphaerotheca castagnei), Pea blight 

 (Erysiphe Martii) Salsafy and Scorzonera blight (Erysiphe lampro- 

 carpa), Oidium fructigeum, concentric rings on Apples, Pears, Plums, &c. 



Fungi are organisms endowed with life, with different modes of 

 reproduction — one being by spores or seeds, of which the atmosphere 

 appears to be always full, and to be the vehicle made use of for their 

 dispersion. Those belonging to the epiphytal class seem as numerous 

 as the phaenogamous plants, on which they are most frequently found, 

 almost to indicate that each living phaenogamous plant has its ap- 

 pointed guest in the shape of some fungus, without much restriction 

 as to soil, situation, or climate. As living organisms they fulfil some 

 beneficent object, and are apparently as much the object of the Creator's 

 skill as other works of His. Some of them appear on plants in a low 

 state of vitality in the autumn, assisting in the general changes then 

 going on, helping forward the work of decomposition, and preparing 

 the soil for new growths. Others induce chemical changes— others find 

 a dwelling-place in the tissues of living leaves, apparently healthy 

 leaves, but generally in the leaves of diseased, unhealthy, ill-grown, 

 over-fed plants rendered unhealthy by over-draughts of liquid-manure 

 supplied to them by him whose duty it was to have withheld it. Their 

 object seems to be by decomposing the tissues of plant-structure to 

 cause them to make way for other and more healthy organisms. 



The gardener has not much to fear from their visits, many of them 

 are only barren states of other well-known fungi, which, as soon as 

 they appear, can be easily got rid of. The appearance of others is the 

 result of want of vigilance in purchasing, plants already infected, or 



