PROCEEDINGS OF THE FARMERS' CLUB. 381 



regard to the black knot ou plum and cherry trees, but have 

 always deferred it. Mr. C. W. Cook, of West Wrenthara, Mass., 

 professes to have discovered " the primal cause of the black knot 

 in small grubs found lying in a curved line across the pith of the 

 limbs." I think he is mistaken in saying that is the first cause, 

 or, indeed, the cause at all, of the black knot. We have one 

 cherry tree in our garden, which was a very small, unthrifty 

 looking one when we come hither four years ago. It then had a 

 few black knots on, which I cut off, but I did no more, thinking 

 it would die. Last winter I concluded to experiment, and in 

 February I had the house slops poured around the roots, and 

 continued till the buds started. When it blossomed it was a per- 

 fect mass of petals, and most beautiful to behold. It was the first 

 time it had blossomed full since we owned it. It grew very fast, 

 looked thrifty, and I thought I should have a good crop, till one day 

 I thought I saw a large green worm on one of the lower limbs, but 

 on closer examination found the outside bark had burst, and what 

 I supposed the worm was the bright green inside bark. I called 

 for my husband to look at it, and we found several of the limbs 

 burst in the same way, with no sign of bug or worm, or insect of 

 any kind about the tree. The leaves and fruit w^ere beginning to 

 fall off, and we concluded it had been over-stimulated. My hus- 

 band took his knife and scarred the bark of the body of the tree 

 from the lower limbs to the root, and before we left it had split 

 open an eighth of an inch, and the gash is fully half an inch wide, 

 well barked over. The bursts which I have just cut oflT in the 

 form of black knot have injured the tree some, but I hope by 

 watching it closely, and taking good care of it, to have a nice tree 

 of it yet. I always feel very much interested in the reports of the 

 Farmers' Club, and if what I have written will contribute to aid 

 in solving the mystery of the destroyer of the plum and cherry, 

 I shall be very happy to feel that I have been able to give some 

 ideas where I have received so much information. 



Remedy fob Girdled Fruit Trees. 

 Mr. B. Updyke, Johnson's Creek, Niagara Co., N. Y. — Apply 

 melted grease or rosin; it readily cools on the tree; no binding 

 up is necessary. Put it on with a narrow strip of a shingle. I 

 have saved many in this way. Some five or six of my neighbors' 

 trees that were girdled with an axe in the hands of some scamp, 

 and thoroughly, too, taking ofi* the wood with the bark for a 



