438 On the Increase of Crypioga'nious Plants. 



not appear a sufficient preventive, as all alike seem to suffer 

 by it. It commonly makes its first appearance when the 

 state of the atmosphere is similar to that which promotes the 

 growth of rust on wheat, viz., when the barometer indicates 

 lightness, accompanied by warmth and moisture. 



This disease (I do not know of a more convenient term,) 

 first makes its appearance upon the leaf of the vine as a dark 

 rusty spot spreading rapidly from leaf to leaf at the rate of 

 perhaps two feet in twenty-four hours. All vines coming 

 within this "infected district," although they may come from 

 different roots, and healthy in all other respects, are injured 

 alike. Different spots in different parts of the field appear, 

 at the same time, each acting as a nucleus, from which the 

 disease spreads in every direction, but not equally alike, it 

 spreading faster to the leeward than the windward side. I 

 have, this season, seen fields that, in two weeks after the dis- 

 ease first made its appearance, were destitute of a green leaf. 

 A similar plant has long injured many varieties of apples in 

 many parts of the country, covering, in some instances, nearly 

 the whole surface of the fruit. 



What can be done to prevent the increase of those cryp- 

 togamous plants? Has our present rage for covering our 

 lands with compost and fermented manures any influence in 

 producing them? Had the Jewish course of agriculture, by 

 reversing the soil to a greater depth than we plough at this 

 time, any influence in preventing their growth? 



By examining the history of this family of plants, they are 

 supposed to differ from the higher or more perfect classes, not 

 having their organs of reproduction male and female as in 

 those, and hence the dust emanating from them, although not 

 visible to the naked eye, is supposed to be the embryo of fu- 

 ture plants ready to vegetate when lodged in suitable local- 

 ities under particular circumstances attending such localities, 

 having the power of striking root from any part of their sur- 

 face, and how minutely small must these particles be when 

 we consider that they can lodge in pores of stalks of wheat, 

 and then vegetate. 



Greece^ Monroe Co.^ N. Y., September^ 1848. 



The inquiry of our old and respected friend, Mr. Goodsell, 

 whom we are happy to welcome to our pages, is one of great 



