62 Destruction of Filberts by Fungi. 



Art. it. Destruction of Filberts by Fungi. By N. Good- 

 sell. Esq., N. Y. 



For many years past, the filbert shrubs in this vicinity 

 have been destroyed to such an extent as to discourage those 

 who would otherwise attempt the cultivation of this fine 

 addition to the dessert. 



This destruction has been ascribed to some unknown in- 

 sect, and severe penalties l^ave been threatened in case he 

 should be identified and convicted. 



I am now of the opinion that the death of those shrubs is 

 occasioned by a fungous plant, the sporule of which lodges 

 in the pores of the bark, where it vegetates and spreads in 

 every direction, but not equally, as the ring formed by the 

 plants bursting through the epidermis is of an oval form, its 

 perpendicular diameter being nearly double the horizontal. 

 As the filbert shrub naturally throws ofi" many side shoots 

 or suckers from the crown, few of which stand perpendicular, 

 I have noticed that the injury often appears first upon the 

 upper side of these shoots, and that these little "fairy rings" 

 often extend two or three feet up and down upon the same 

 side of the shoot, which, in a short tinte, dies, and exhibits 

 all the appearance of rapid decay. 



I do not pretend to infallibility in my observations, and 

 would therefore invite the attention of those better versed in 

 botany than myself to this subject, but will venture to call 

 this fungi in question the wauchii of the genus Cryptomyces 

 Z/., an excellent representation of which may be found in 

 Loudon's Encyclopaedia of Plants, page 1020, No. 16,289. 



I am astonished sometimes to find to what length we allow 

 our prejudices to extend. In early life, I imbibed a deadly 

 hatred against the curculio family, more particularly that 

 one which does such mischief to our stone fruits, and was the 

 first one, I believe, in this country, to expose the turpitude of 

 his character, in that respect, to the public. — but even that 

 exposure was not sufficient to appease my hatred, and, since 

 then, I have been trying to fix another stain upon his char- 

 acter, viz.. that of destroying the plum tree as well as the 

 fruit, by causing those black bunches upon them which prove 



