HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 85 



depredators that seem so insignificant and small, yet give us any 

 amount of trouble and loss. We need to be alarmed^and look- 

 ing about us, for the enemy is already in our midst. 



In referring to the rust and mildew on grapes, the commis- 

 sioner of agriculture says: "The different kinds of rot — black 

 rot, brown rot, white rot, and bitter rot — are caused by fungi; 

 each form being produced by a special fungus, quite distinct 

 from those under whose action the other forms appear. These 

 fungi are plants like the vines themselves; differing from the lat- 

 ter only in their minute size and in their habits of growth; and 

 there is a much greater difference between the fungus which 

 produces the black rot, and the fungus which causes the bitter 

 rot, than there is between the most widely different grape- 

 vines which you cultivate." 



Black rot or going to decay of grapes is purely the result of 

 the attacks of a parasite on fruit and foliage alike. The use of 

 preparations of arseneous poisons sprayed upon the foliage just 

 after the fruit has set, and at different stages of growth, is a pre- 

 ventive for these many kinds of diseases; not only these but the 

 codling moth and other injurious insects are destroyed; in some 

 instances saving seventy per cent of good fruit, where without 

 the aid of these sprays the whole crop would be a total failure. 

 New kinds of liquid and powdered remedies for prevention of 

 plant and fungus diseases are making their appearance each 

 year, and should be sifted by discussion to discovei- which are 

 the best. We are very apt to take up with new ideas and 

 remedies without investigating their real merits. Our investi- 

 gations in this line should be thorough and cautious; for already 

 there are many complaints that injury has been done to our 

 plants and vines ^y using too large an amount of remedy and 

 too little good common sense. 



As the country grows older, the losses and damages to all 

 varieties of plant life are certain to be increasingly great. One 

 writer suggests we should not denounce all insects that are in- 

 jurious to our crops as an ungrateful nuisance and evil. The 

 horticulturist? would be a very unenergetic and unambitious be- 

 ing if he had no insects to contend with. "Verily the bug" said 

 he, "is a very useful member of society, whether he is a big or a 

 little bug; he keeps us horticulturists up and a going, and teaches 

 us if we will have what our appetites crave most ardently, and 

 will surround ourselves with abundance, we must work for it; 

 in other words, be honest and industrious." 



