THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



367 



a Ibrmidable lilipuiian spear. The length o^ \\\\b 

 lance- head is very generally thrce-twentieihs of 

 an inch and its greatest breadth is one- twentif:{h 

 of an inch, yet it contains three perfect flowers ! ! 

 It is very easy lo set the egg on end alter some 

 Columbus has shown us how it is to be done. So 

 in vegetable physiology it is easy lo understand 

 the organization of plants after the splendid ge- 

 nius of Goethe has discovered and demoiislraied 

 the beautilul and instructive theory of vcf^clabk 

 transmutation. We wonder now on exammintr a 

 flower that we did not belbre perceive the certain 

 indications of the beautilul metamorphosis. So 

 eymmeirical are its arrangements and so strong 

 the analogies existing between its parts and those 

 of which they are mere translbimations. I will 

 Bend you Nuttall'e Genera of North American 

 Plants, in which you will find what he says ol 

 poa pungens in a note and observation on the 

 poa genus. 



John Lewis. 



THE MUSCARniNE. 



From the Columbia Republican. 



The muscardine has long been known in Eu- 

 rope as a desolating scourge, the ravages of which 

 annually destroy from 40 to 50 per cent, of all the 

 worms hatched. It has continued Irom the earli- 

 est period of the silk culture in Europe, and lor 

 years past the attention of the learned, and of the 

 French and other foreign governments, has been 

 directed to this terrible malady, and until recently 

 all attempts to discover its cause, or arrest its pro- 

 gress, have been fruitless. The muscardine re- 

 sisted all reactives and all the remedies employed. 

 So formidable did it become, that large prizes 

 were offered by academies and by private persons 

 for the discovery of its origin, and a preventive. 

 At length, in 1836, a communication was sent to 

 the scientific academies of Paris, by M. Coquand, 

 announcing the important fact that Dr. Bassi, ol 

 Milan, after devoting himself for upwards of 25 

 years to a series of most ingenious experirnentg, 

 had at length unfolded the enigma. He discover- 

 ed that the disease was produced by a cryptoga- 

 mic parasite, \he germ of which introduces itself 

 into the silk-worm, occasions its death, and then 

 developes itself on the surface of its body, under 

 the form of a farinaceous efflorescence. 



When the terrible muscardine declares itself in 

 a cocoonery, it is transmitted with great facility 

 from one chamber to another, and, if it becomes 

 epidemic, successively from house lo house, until 

 the whole village be infected. It spreads itself 

 thence in every direction, and invades a locality 

 more or less distant from those in which it is in 

 communication, either by the assistance of the at- 

 mosphere, which will have settled upon it the 

 morbific germs with which it is charged, or by the 

 medium of such animals as dogs, cats, mice, or 

 even files, which, after having been in contact 

 with worms that have died of the muscardine, 

 retain some of the germs, and alterwards drop 

 them on healthy individuals, thus sowing on all 

 sides the generative principle of the contiigion. 



One of the most favorable causes of propagat- 

 ing the muscardine is to be ascribed to the coiiia- 

 iDination of the food. This, in fact, by touching 



an infected carcass, communicaieB the contagious 

 germs to every thitig with which it comes in con- 

 tact ; and especially to the leaves of the mulberry, 

 which, instead of furnishing a wholesome nour- 

 ishment, will thence become the cause of death. 



The persons who attend the silk-vvorms, or the 

 proprietors of cocooneries, ordinarily retain the 

 latalseed on their clothes, or on the egcrs of the 

 silk-worms which they retain lor themslilves, or 

 expose for sale. 



It is the same with those who reel the silk from 

 the cocoons, and who are the more disposed to re- 

 ceive it, as their business is usually conducted 

 near to the cocooneries. 



It often happens that among the cocoons vvhich 

 the reelers buy yearly, they meet with some in- 

 fected ones, that communicate the germs of the 

 contagion to the furniture of their establishment, 

 upon which the silk-xvorms of the following year 

 will find a certain death. The contagion may 

 likewise proceed from a silk- worm infected by ita 

 abode in a case which contains the muscardine 

 principle. 



The disease of the silk-worm being neither he- 

 reditary nor spontaneous, cannot afl'ect the silk- 

 worm, as long as it is in a state of embryo in the 

 egg ; yet infected eggs cannot be hatched with 

 safety, since, by contact with their exterior sur- 

 face, the worms become contagious, and commu- 

 nicate the contagion to others near them. The 

 number of deaths increase in a progressive pro- 

 portion, and a general epidemic is suddeniy intro- 

 duced, vvhich ravages the whole manufactory. 



This deplorable result, besides depriving the 

 proprietor of his crop of silk, continues to trouble 

 him in the following years ; for the germs which 

 have spread themselves over the walls, vaults, 

 floor and furniture of the establishment, maintain 

 a focus of infection, which renews each spring. 



Such is the nature of this terrible disease, as 

 described by Dr. Bassi, from the ravages of which 

 the silk growers in the United Stales thought 

 themselves secure, and perhaps, thus lar, our silk 

 growers have lost but little by diseased worms, 

 although we noticed a short time since that an 

 enierprising gentleman of Cuba, during the last 

 year, had lost his entire crop of worms by a dis-. 

 ease he could not arrcpt, and which no doubl 

 was the muscardine ; but the note ofalarm now 

 raised may arrest its progress, and thus prevent 

 any very disastrous effects to the silk culture, 

 an enterprise of vast importance to this country. 



miRIIAIVI STOCK AS MILKERS. 



From tlie Cultivator. 



Under this title anariicle, or speech, is going 

 the rounds of our agricultural and political papers, 

 purporting to be from Rev. Henry Colman, which 

 is pregnant with so much error, and, coming from 

 that high and responsible source, of such mis- 

 chievous tendency, as I believe it, to the welfare 

 of our dairymen and stock breeders, that although 

 seldom appearing btfjte the reading public, I feel 

 bound at the ihrophold of its circulatjon, to enler, 

 as the lawyers would say, my caveat against it. 



That there may be no misunderstanding in the 

 matter, let me at once remark, that no one can 

 have a higher respect than myself lor the exalted 



