44 Empire Spring. [July, 



wishes to gloss over an upright, independent " it ercio,^' with 

 philosophic form. But to the subject; 



Vegetable parasites, like the annual ones, form a great and 

 very rich family; and the majority of them belong to the fungi. 

 The same parasites which develop themselves in the texture of 

 our cereals are also the more worthy of notice; and therefore I 

 first of all examined them, and will afterwards also describe and 

 represent the species which habitate in our other vegetables. 



The collective specimens of brand belong to a humble family of 

 fungi, to which the natural historian gives the family name of 

 Caeomacece, and all the species of this great family are parasites. 

 They distinguish themselves by the simple characteristics — "sin- 

 gle-celled spores or seeds," from all the kindred families to which 

 still by the development of the interior texture of their organism 

 they belong. The most important for our object of these families 

 are the wheat brand, the oat brand, the barley brand, the maize 

 and millet brand. All these belong only to the families of the 

 grasses; and of our cultivated grasses, the rye only is cer- 

 tainly marked as the particular species on which hitherto no spe- 

 cies of brand has been discovered; an observation first made by 

 Prof. Kunze of Leipsic, and which I have found confirmed in all 

 parts of central Europe, although many authors also speak of the 

 rye brand as one of the most common appearances. In the level 

 country of Germany and Austria, besides the red stalk brand, 

 (Uredo rubigo,) and the pedicel brand, (Puceinia graminis,) 

 there is found no brand on rye; and only in cloudy, moist, moun- 

 tainous regions is there any fungus of the family of the fibrous 

 fungi, [Tricho vel Hypbomycetes And) found on the ears of rye 

 to which fungus the people improperly give the name of " the 

 rye brand," and M'hich I shall consider specially below. I shall 

 here exhibit besides many illustrations of the definitions of the 

 particular organs and terms of expression; but all these illustra- 

 tions must be only short here, and can be but imperfectly given; 

 and the reader may obtain an intimate and detailed knowledge 

 of the organs here spoken of in my " Guide to the Study of My- 

 cology," p. 21 to 36. I will omit the same, and at once proceed 

 to illustrate the form of structure of the various species of brand. 



EMPIRE SPRING— SARATOGA. 

 This valuable water, analogous to the Congress water, has 

 risen rapidly into favor. Its efficacy in cutaneous diseases and 

 scrofula has been proved by trial. Its value depends upon the 

 presence of the hydriodate of soda. It bottles remarkably well, 

 and constitutes an excellent beveraere in both summer and winter. 



