278 



THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY 



[September, 



and indeed of flowering, found to be, as our corre- 

 spondent suspects, in connection with a decrease of 

 vegetative vigor ; not until growth is checked are 

 flowers formed of that which was intended for 

 leaves, and with this check the color connected 

 with flowers comes. 



In like manner the check which autumn leaves re- 

 ceive results in coloring, and the same species of 

 plants will have a brighter or higher color in a north- 

 ern or Alpine region, where the struggle for life with 

 the elements is greater than further south, where the 

 elements are more favorable to vegetative vigor. 

 The great development of color in Alpine plants 

 over those which grow at low elevations is be- 

 lieved to be referable to this law. Color is an at- 

 tribute of fading vegetation. — Ed. G. M.] 



mans ; and that "it is a common error to ascribe 

 the attacks of fungous diseases to the influence of 

 of the weather, not considering that each fungus 

 has its appointed season of development the same 

 as a higher plant." 



" In fact there is no more reason to suppose that 

 it is wholly a matter of temperature and moisture 

 that causes the curl to ripen its spores, and complete 

 its yearly growth before the heats of midsummer 

 arrive, than that the same cause regulates the ap- 

 pearance of the peach blossoms. It is rather the 

 hereditary habit which even the weather is rarely 

 able to alter." 



All who have watched the development of 



WILD FLOWERS OF ROCHESTER, N. Y., 

 AS COMPARED WITH CALIFORNIA. 



Twice I have made a list of the species of wild 

 plants found in a mile's walk — on one occasion 

 from my residence, by way of street and canal-side, 

 to Fair Grounds, on the edge of the town ; on the 

 other, going over ground some hundreds of feet re- 

 moved from this, but still embracing a like amount 

 of dry and wet soil. On each trip the number of 

 species noted was either ninety-six or ninety-seven 

 — the number overlooked being perhaps twenty or 

 thirty. 



In a walk of equal length— but including digres- 

 sions laterally from 75 to 100 feet — along the edge 

 of the river at Santa Cruz, Cal. — the ground being 

 sandy, in parts quite damp and subject to over- 

 flow in spring — 120 species were booked. The 

 time in each case was from two to three hours. 



Two or three short subsequent visits to the same 

 ground along the San Lorenzo yielded me about 

 thirty additional species, with perhaps as many as 

 twenty-five to fifty species overlooked. 



In corresponding localities, or situations, this 

 proportion of wildlings for the two sections — the 

 Pacific and Atlantic coasts— would probably hold 

 good. . Rochester, N. Y. 



EDITORIAL NOTES. 



The Curl in the Peach. — In the report of the 

 Botanist to the New York agricultural experiment 

 station (we shall soon have to have a reform in 

 these long names, as well as in the names of 

 fruits) Prof. Arthur says the "curl " in the peach 

 leaf is caused by a small fungus, Exoascus defor- 



Plum Bladders. 



fungous plants must agree with Prof. Arthur to 

 this extent, that these little plants cannot grow till 

 the season ot development has come ; but on the 

 other hand, they will not grow then, unless the 

 conditions be favorable. A peach tree may have 

 within its tissues the spores or mycelium of the curl 

 fungus in a sort of hereditary condition, but it will 

 not develop under a high temperature. We be- 

 lieve it to be conceded that no one ever saw a 

 case of curl in a peach tree grown under glass. It 

 is also very curious to note how the same fungus 

 operates differently in different plants. The curl 

 attacking the leaves of the peach, does not, we be- 

 lieve, infest the leaves of the plum, but will the 



