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Irrigation and heavy sanding are all that is required in many cases for 
theimprovement of thesoil and ¢Gorrection of acid. Each cultivator must 
be the judge as to the quantity of lime and irrigation required, guided 
by the condition of the roots of the vines and the state of the soil. 
The investigations made by the Department of Agriculture will lead, 
in all probability, to better selections of land for this culture in the 
future. 
Mr. H. A. Green, of Atco, N. J., June 5, 1876, forwards to this De- 
partment several sheets of natural paper which grow on his cranberry 
bogs. This paper consists wholly of the mycelium (spawn) of a fer- 
menting fungus, demonstrating that the peaty matter of his bog needs 
liming and irrigation ; and nostronger proof could be advanced in favor 
of the expressed views of the Department in relation to cranberry rot, 
and the value of its investigation, than the growth of these matted 
sheets on the flooded bogs. 
BLACK KNOT.—In the bulletin of the Bussey Institution for 1876, p. 
449, the following statement is made: 
The best and, so far as we know, the only correct statement of the etiology of the 
black knot was made by Mr. C. H. Peck, who,as we have already remarked, was the 
first to describe the conidaial state of the fungus. He also first showed definitely 
when the ascospores ripened, and correctly reasoned that the knot was caused by the 
Spheria morbosa, and that the fungus on plums and cherries was the same. 
In a letter written by Mr. Peck, dated February 16, 1874, and addressed 
to Dr. Vasey, botanist of this Department, the following paragraph 
appears: 
Mr. Taylor, microscopist of your Department, in his article on black knot, has dem- 
onstrated one fact of which I am glad, though I fear he has done it unwittingly. His 
Fig. 6 shows conclusively the connection between the Cladosporium and the Spheria—a 
connection which I long suspected, and to which I refer in my papers on this subject. 
And, in a letter addressed to Mr. Taylor, dated Albany, March 9, 
1874, Mr. Peck says: 
I am much interested in your investigation of the black knot, and thank you for 
your favor of the 6th instant. 
The chief part of the excrescence is, without doubt, made up of the tissues of the 
hest-plant, as shown by your specimens; and this unusual development of the tissues 
must have a cause, which I believe should be sought in the irritating or stimulating 
influence of the mycelium of the fungus. This need not necessarily permeate the 
whole mass, for it is well known that the egg of an insect deposited in the tissues of 
plants sometimes causes an excrescence very many times larger than itself. Dr.Vasey 
kindly sent me the Report of the Department of Agriculture for January, and I was 
glad to see that your Figs. 5 and 6 show the actual connection between the Clados- 
porium and flocci, * * a connection which I had long suspected, but had never 
actually detected. These flocci often bear spore-like bodies, as represented by Fig. 6, 
which, in such cases of dimorphism, generally disappear by the time the true spores 
are perfected. Doubtless the specimen you figure was young, or, for some reason, 
sterile. You will find the real spores of the Spheria in sacks, included in the pere- 
theria, and appearing as in Figs. T and U. 
FACTS FROM VARIOUS SOURCES. 
THE COTTON MOVEMENT.—The crop of last year is mainly marketed 
between September 1 of a given year and the same date of the next. 
The National Cotton Exchange has made its statement of the commer- 
cial operations of the cotton year. The aggregate amount of cotton in 
