366 



THE GARDENER'S MONTHLY 



[December ^ 



such leaves. -As long as the plants themselves 

 survive in autumn the mites may be found living 

 and working — this year (1878) as late as the first 

 day of December, at Urbana, 111. Greenhouses 

 and cold-frames are very liable to become stocked 

 with mites upon plants taken from the open 

 ground in autumn. This is worthy of especial no- 

 tice and should be thoroughly understood by those 

 to whom the black rust is such a bugbear and the 

 source of so much loss, estimated in dollars, as ; 

 Avell as by the mental condition of him who j 

 doggedly fights against unknown but certainly '< 

 existing foes. Besides the purplish color ex- 

 hibited by the foliage, which is the principal 

 evidence of the presence of the mite, older 

 leaves have a scaly appearance from the death 

 of patches of the epidermis and adjacent tissues; 

 the surfaces become rough and the leaves look 

 old, and are often ragged and upon handling 

 stiff", liable to. break. Badly aff"ected plants give 

 no satisfaction in the beds, though they struggle 

 for life ; the foliage is unprepossessing and the 

 flowers few and small. 



The ordinary " red spider," a true mite, 

 though distantly related to our species, thrives 

 only in warm, dry situations. Out of doors its 

 wox'st deeds are done during the periods of very 

 hot dry weather, but this does not seem to be 

 the case with the verbena mite. We have seen 

 that it continues its unwelcome services long after 

 sharp frosts have occurred in autumn, even after 

 the ground has been slightly frozen. Most proba- 

 bly it passes the winter under the shelter of 

 any material on the surface of the ground, 

 and is ready to begin again its work as soon 

 as plants start in the spring. So far I have 

 found it on nothing but the verbena species 

 but sometimes as numerous on wild varieties 

 as upon the cultivated plants. The common 

 weedy wild species of verbenas, everywhere abun- 

 dant enough, could be easily spared, and if the 

 subject of our sketch will take notice of this, its 

 reputation will hereafter be much better, now 

 that it is really known at all, than if it persists in 

 choosing the object which we animals of a high- 

 er grade, especially appropriate to ourselves. 



For the greenhouses it will doubtless be wisest 

 to practice prevention rather than cure, admit- 

 ting no plant which from its appearance harbors 

 the scourge ; but cure is certainly not impossible. 

 Dipping repeatedly at intervals of a day or two 

 in hot water at 120° Fahrenheit must be useful 

 in ridding them of the mite. A half pint of 

 coal oil in two or three gallons of water, well 



mixed by rapidly drawing up and discharging with 

 force from the syringe the contents of the vessel 

 into itself and then quickly refilling the syringe 

 with the agitated liquid and freely applying it to 

 the plants, will not injure the vegetation, but 

 will kill all kinds of insects which thus infest 

 plants. As these mites suck the juices rather 

 than bite the leaves, poisons, like Paris green, 

 etc., cannot be relied upon. Thrifty-growing 

 plants can much better withstand the injuries 

 caused by such enemies, — hence are often sup- 

 posed to be free from the disease when in fact they 

 bear its cause as abundantly as their stunted 

 neighbors. Having freed ourselves from the cur- 

 rent opinions that this black rust is in the con- 

 stitution of the plant or comes from improper 

 ventilation or any mismanagement of the houses, 

 aside from that which prevents vigor and robust- 

 ness of plant growth, we may place more faith 

 in the success of proper treatment of the plants 

 and more hope in the good that is to follow close 

 and full investigation. 



CURIOUS FUNCI. 



BY MRS. D. W., SUMMER VILLE, S. C. 



Reading an article on fungi some time ago, I 

 remarked that one with which I am unfortu- 

 tunately too familiar is not mentioned, and I 

 think it worth describing. 



The negroes in our pine-land, Summervillev 

 S. C, have various names for it, but its technical 

 name I do not know. The first time I met with 

 it about two years ago, I was standing by a 

 patch of oats just peeping above ground, and 

 was attracted by a round, bright, scarlet object 

 not unlike the back of a hand, with the fingers 

 bent under, three in number ; the fingers were 

 beneath the ground, of a beautiful rose color 

 tipped with pure white, and these again held to 

 a leathery, round, whitish ball, with rootlets not 

 unlike a French truffle in size and shape. This 

 underground ball I did not then perceive, as the 

 fingers had detached themselves from it as I 

 drew the thing out of the ground. There was 

 something indescribably cold and disgusting in 

 the touch of it as it la}' for a moment on the palm 

 of my hand while I examined it ; but how can I 

 describe the horrible stench that in a second per- 

 vaded the atmosphere around me ; it was intoler- 

 able, and I hastily dropped the cold flesh-like 

 object and hurried away from the spot. On the 

 following day having mentioned the facts to a 

 friend, we returned to look for the fungus ; the 

 smell, so nauseous, still remained, but we could 



