42 



and by this means he obtains a crop. M. Lichtenstoin added to this communication 

 the result of his personal observations, that from the 15th August to the 15th Sei^tem- 

 ber tho phylloxera takes wings and departs. He was not able to distinguish the sexes, 

 but there was a time when the insect laid an egg which gave birth to the mother of 

 the legions which devastate the vineyards. At this time the insect is within reach, 

 and should be destroyed. In studying the 2)hylloxera of the vine the speaker discovered 

 the pliylloxm-a of the oak. 



Viscount de Saint Trivier, delegate from the Rhone, gave a history of the progress 

 of the ji^yl^oxera in his neighborhood, where it appeared three years ago. He pulled 

 up his vines in April and June but found no phylloxera ; but in July they appeared, 

 which fact made him think, with M. Coruu, that the temperature must be at least 15° 

 cent. He obtained good results by covering the stocks with a sort of paste made of 

 saw-dust and coal-tar. M. Denis employed boiling water, to which he added one-tenth 

 of tobacco-waste. 



M. Loubet did not believe in medicines, but advocated patient rei)lanting till the 

 disease disajipeared of itself, as he believed it soon would. 



MICROSCOPIC OBSERVATIOXS. 



By Thomas Taylor, Microscopist. 



[Continued from the October report.] 



Cranberry rot and scald. — It has been suggested by several cor- 

 respondents of this Department that an application of lime to the decay- 

 ing vegetable matter composing cranberry bog-lands would increase fer- 

 mentation rather than prevent the evil, and that the application of some 

 other substance would probably prove more suitable for the purposes 

 required. The action of lime on cranberry land differs materially from 

 its action on farming land in general. Cranberry lands vary exceedingly 

 in their conditions. I have found, for example, in New Jersey unde- 

 composed peat-bogs six feet thick, charged with sulphureted hydrogen 

 and acetic acids. On such soil cranberry vines grow vigorously, and 

 become heavily matted. The bloom is plentiful and the fruit grows 

 in profusion, but under continual high temperature and drought fer- 

 mentation is induced in the berries, and the cranberry "rot" succeeds. 

 On the other hand, I have found a cranberry plantation having a soil 

 of well decomposed peaty matter six feet thick, and free from all dis- 

 agreeable odor. Other conditions were also favorable to high culture, 

 such as a plentiful supply of cool water, and cool breezes during hot 

 weather. 



Other plantations presented conditions entirely different from these. 

 At Pemberton the cranberry vines are planted mostly in black sand, a 

 soil composed of pure white sand and a small portion of peaty matter, 

 amounting to only 2 J per cent, of the latter. This soil, when sufficiently 

 moist and subjected to a proper temperature, is quite favorable to cran- 

 berry growth, and proves very profitable ; but during long droughts 

 and high temperature the berries, even on this soil, also rot. In the ab- 

 sence of moisture, the roots fail to sustain the organic functions of the 

 berry, and it becomes subject to the same kind of decay and rot that 

 are observed when a healthy berry is removed from a healthy vine and 

 subjected to high heat of the sun. This fact is well understood by cran- 

 berry-growers. The soil which accumulates in old mill-ponds differs 

 from the foregoing. It is composed mostly of decomposed leaves, moss, 

 and similar substances, being a well decomposed vegetable sediment, 

 most of which had probably fermented in the forest before it was washed 

 by rains into the ponds. By draining the water from these ponds grad- 

 ually, the sediment consolidates into the condition of humus matter. 



