GROWTH OF PARASITIC FUNGI. 



showing the back porch and the arrangement of the kitchen wing. To build this house for 

 the sum named by our correspondent, it must, of course be constructed of wood, and in por- 

 tions of of the country where both labor and materials are not at the present high pri- 

 ecs about New-York. The whole must be constructed in a simple manner — the inside walls 

 to be white-washed or neatly papered — the first story to be 91 or 10 feet high only. 



The principal merit of this design is in its comprising a convenient arrangement for the 

 purpose, brought into a form that is rural and picturesque. 



CONDITIONS REQUIRED FOR THE GROWTH OF PARASITIC FUNGI. 



BY J. TOWNLEY, MOUNDVILLE, MARQUETTE CO., AVISCONSIN. 



In this age of inquiry and progress, it is surprising that so little attention has been paid 

 to the habits of parasitic fungi, and that so little is really known respecting the conditions 

 which favor their growth and increase. To the farmer and gardener the subject is one of 

 much importance; not a season passes without much of their labor being rendered of no 

 avail by the influence of these almost invisible destroyers. How great, for instance, is the 

 loss annually sustained by the attack of rust, smut, and mildew, on the wheat crop 

 alone? and who can estimate the value of the food destroyed within the last five years, 

 by the attack of the parasitic fungus Botrytis infestans on the potato? Almost every 

 plant we cultivate is liable to be atacked by fungi, and he would certainly be entitled to 

 no mean place among the benefactors of mankind, who should discover a means by which 

 their development might with certainty, and at will, be prevented. The powers of man 

 may not be permitted to extend thus far, nevertheless, there are grounds for concluding 

 that by patient inquiry, and well-considered experiments carefully conducted, we may ul- 

 timately attain greater control over them than we now possess. 



Different plants, as well as different animals, have their peculiar parasites, some parasiti- 

 cal fungi will indeed prey upon many different plants, but the attack of a species is gener- 

 ally confined to a certain natural order of plants, or to a genus, or to two or three species 

 of a genus; whilst some, as in animal?, seem to exist on a particular part only of one 

 species. The parasitical fungus which is the cause of the mildew of wheat, will not live 

 upon turneps; that which infests the turnep will seize upon the cabbage, they being 

 nearly allied plants, but it has no power over the potato; yet the parasites of the turnep 

 and the potato are nearly allied. For a plant to be attacked by fungi, two things, then, are 

 required; the presence of the reproductive germs of its peculiar parasite, and the condi- 

 tions required for their growth. Hence, one apparent means of securing a crop against an 

 attack of fungi, is to obtain seeds of plants free from their parasite, and to grow them on 

 land where no similar crop has been previously, or at least recently grown; a second mode 

 is to destroy the germs, if seeds or plants are known to be infected, as is commonly done 

 in the case of wheat. It has been proved experimentally, that wheat may be inoculated 

 with smut, by simply mixing smutty ears with clear grain previous to soMiug. And 

 " Quekett found that he could propagate the ergot of rye by mixing the sporules with 

 water, and applying this to the roots." (Balfour.) These facts, coupled with the benefi- 

 cial effects of steeping grain in various solutions, indicate that the germs of fungi find their 

 way into plants by means of the root, or through the seed itself. May it not be worth 

 trying whether any benefit would be derived by steeping seeds of the pear in weak 

 ine solutions, as of lime, potash, or ammonia, which are said to form a soapy matter 



