|VOL. VIII. 



NATURAL HISTORY OF THE BLIGHT. 



R Rdsseli. 



DtAR Sir — In a new and very interesting work 



licli I liave lately- received from London, (the 



I oiirn 1 of a Naturalist,') I met with the follow- 



i ; on tlie subject of Bliijht, (Ainerkan Blight ?) 



as it may l.c new in some particulars to 



i' 

 iir horticultural readers I inclose 



5 w England Farmer. Yours, J. M. I 



Salem, March 30, 1830- 



' Our apple trees here [North of England] are 

 !atly injured, and some annually destroyed by 

 1 agency of what seems to be a very feeble in- 

 We call it, from habit, or from some assign- 

 cause, the ' American Blight' (aphis lauata ;) 

 ■"Is noxious creature being known in some orch- 

 is by the more significant name of ' white blight.' 

 the spring of the«year a slight hoariness is ob 



Publish e d by J0H.V B.- Russell, al AV. 5 2 .VoHh Mar ket Strtd,~(at the Agricultural H'archovse).-T»oMAs GJFils^Ei^jE^rt,^: 



BOSTON, FRIDAY. APRIL 16, 1830^ 



No. 39. 



OUtGINAL COMMUNICATIONS. 



perficial observation tlic malady was not in exis-j whoso flowers are devoid of petals, and which 

 tence ; and >t d,d not becon.e manifest again un- consequently, make little show or'appearance, and 

 til beptemhor, when, after the rams of that season, j cause in the mindd of casual obsen'ers the exis 

 ■ t reissued in line, cottony patches from the ol,l | tence of the opinion above referred to In Europe 

 nodes on the trees. Many remedies have. Imen thev ,Ii«.in.T,.;.=l. .!,..=. 1: - .,' . .-.';' 



my remedies have been 

 proposed for removing this evil, efficacious perhaps 

 in some cases upon a small sc-alc, but when the 

 injury has existed for some time, and extended its 

 nllucnce over the pans of a large tree, I apprehend 



for the j it will take iis course and the tree die. Upon 



they distinguish these anomalies of the horticultu- 

 ral family, by the title of i^igne or petalless varie- 

 ties— they enumerate but one of the apple and one 

 of the pear, but from the accounts which have 

 been published in difierent sections of our coun- 

 try, it is to be presumed there exist among us sev- 

 eral varieties of petalless apples, but none of the 



young plants, and in places where a brush can be , „ ^^_ 



applied, any substance that can be used in a liquid j pear, except in ti'ic Nursery collections 

 state, to harden into a coat, insoluble by rain, will April 8, 1830. 

 assuredly confine the ravages of the creature, and 

 smother it. Hard rubbing with a dry brush crush- 

 es many, but there are crevices into which the 

 bristle cannot enter : thus, some escape, and the 

 propagation continues. I have very successfully 

 removed this blight from young trees, and from 

 ijcently attacked places in those more advanced. 



ved upon the branches of certain species of | liy an easy application. Melt about three ounces 

 • orchard fruit. As the season advances this i J'"'"esin in an earthen pipkin, take it from the fire, 

 iriness increases.it becomes cottony, and toward "*'"' P"'"" '"'*' '' three ounces of fish oil ; the in- 

 1 middle or end of summer, the ander sides ofl S^™'^'^"'^ P6'''<;ctly unite, and when cold, acquire 

 le of the branches are invested with a thick, '''^ '^°"S'*'''"ce of honey. A slight degree of heat, 

 vnv substance, so long as at times to be sensibly "'" "nuify it, and in this state paint over every 

 tated by the air. Upon examining this substanie I "°'''' °'" '"'"^'^ted part in your tree, using a coin- 

 find, that it conceals a multitude of small winir- "'"" painter's brush. This I prefer doing in 



spring, or as soon as the hoariness appears. The 

 substance soon sufficiently hardens, and forms a 

 varnish, which prevents any escape, and stifles the 

 individuals. Ater the first dressing, should any 

 cottony matter appear round the margin of the var- 

 nish, a second application to these parts will, I 

 uiink, \jc found to efleot a perfect cure. The j>'c- 

 3 terminating bristle is not observed in every [ ''•'ilence of this insect gives some of our orchards 

 vidual : in those that possess it, it is of differ- ''•'''^ ^''^ appearance of numerous white posts in 

 lengths, and is usually when not in use, so P" ^^•^"^'''s •'■y'"? ground, being washed with 



creatures which are busily employed in preyf- 

 upon the limb of the tree beneath. This ttey 

 well enabled to do, by means of a beak ty- 



latinginafine bristle; this being icsinuatii 

 ugh the bark, and the sappy part of the wooj, 



ibles the creature to extract, as with a svringi 

 sweet, vital liquor that circulates in the plant 



lely concealed under the breast of the animal, 

 to be invisible. In the younger insects it is 

 n manifested by protruding like a fine ternii- 

 ion to the anus ; but as their bodies become 



■ ;thened the bristle is not in this way observa- 

 The alburnum, or sap wood, being thus 



Jinded, rises up in excrescences and nodes all 



lime from root to branch — a practice I apprehend 

 attended with little benefit ; a few creatures may 

 be destroyed by accident, but as the animal does 

 not retire to the earth, but winters in the clefts of 

 the boughs far beyond the influence of this wash, 

 it remains uninjured, to commence its ravages 

 again when spring returns. Aphides in general 



r the branch, and deforms it ; the limb, de- j attack the young and softer parts of plants ; but 

 * ed of its nutriment, grows sickly ; the leaves |'^'* insect seems easily to wound the harder bark 

 J 1 yellow, and the part perishes. Branch after j °^ ^''^ ^PP''^' a"'' ''X no means makes choice of 

 ,, ich is thus assailed, until they all become leaf- 1 ^^^ ""'^' tender part of the branch. They give a 

 i! , and the tree dies. The epithet of American I preference to certain sorts, but not always the most 

 I* ht may be correctly applied ; but we have no i "^'^^ fruits ; as cider apples and wildings, are 



icient authority to conclude that we derived |S''6'>''y 'ifested by them, and from some unknown 



pest from that country. Normandy and the 



herlands, too, have each been supposed to have 



= 'erred this evil upon ns ; but extensively as this 



ct is spread around, and favorable as our cli- 



cause, other varieties seem to be exempted from 

 their depredations. The Wheeler's russet, and 

 Crofton pippin I have never observed to be injur- 

 ed by them. This insect is viviparous, or produ- 



e appears to be to its increase, it bids fair to de- 1 "^^^ ''^ young alive, forming a cradle for them by 

 111 nn progipssion most of our oldest and ion"' '^'^"''^■'S'ng from the extremities of its body a 



etned fruit from our orchards. quantity of long, cottony matter, which, becoming 



'J, esarae unknown decree, which regulates the in- 'interwoven and entangled, prevents the young from 

 :if se and decrease of all created beings, influen- 



this instct ; yet wet seasons, upon the whole, 



1 genisl to its constitution. In the summer of 



6 it abounded in such incredible luxuriance, 



many trees seemed at a short distance as if 



: had been white-washed ; in the ensuing 



mer, which was a very dry and hot one, this 



>ny matter so entirely disappeared, that to su- 



falling to the earth, and completely envelopes the 

 parent and offspring. 



FOR THK NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



HORTICULTURAL ANOMALY. 



It is not, perhaps, generally known, that the 

 Apple and Pear trees often spoken of as producing 

 fruit without having any blossom, are of varieties 



CANADA PLUM. 



Mr Russell— I would wish to inform the Mas- 

 sachusetts Horticultural Society, that I have been 

 remarkably fortunate in raising Plums from seed ; 

 fori certainly would not exchange my seedlings 

 for all the varieties hitherto known ; among them 

 IS one, an extraordinary bearer, — and I believe, 

 surpassing in flavor any other in existence in any 

 American Nurseries. I have also, three very fine 

 new Apples of accidental origin— cuttings of all 

 which, should it ho desired, I shall be proud of 

 forwarding to the Mas.sachusetts Horticultural So- 

 "^'"ty. H. CORSE. 



Montreal, March 25, 1830. 



[Cuttings of the above Plums, aud of any other 

 indigenous fruits will be thankfully received Sy the 

 Society ; if no other conveyance should offer, they 

 can be sent through the house of E. & VV. Curtis, 

 paper makers, Montreal, one of which gentlemen 

 is a meinbcj- oi/he Soc;-!iy.] Bailor. 



From Galignani's Mess.jnger. 



PARIS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



The General Annual Meeting of the Paris Hor- 

 ticultural Society was held on Sunday, in the 

 Sallc St Jean, at the Hotel de Yille, which was 

 decorated in a manner corresponding to the occa- 

 sion, but not sufficiently spacious to admit all the 

 persons who were desirous of being present at 

 the meeting. After the opening speech by the 

 President, M. Soulange Bodin, Secretary, made an 

 interesting and satisfactory report upon the pro- 

 ceedings and labors of the Society. The Abb6 

 Berlise gave an account, in the name of the 

 Committee appointed to visit the flower market, 

 in which he bestowed a high tribute of praise on 

 the gardeners who supply the market with flow- 

 ers. The Viscount de Bonnaire de Gif entered 

 into anexpositionof the claims of different garden- 

 ers, in the employment of landed proprietors, to 

 the encouragement afforded by the Society, and 

 named several who were particularly entitled to 

 them. M. Vilmorin read an interesting memoir 

 upon the culture of the Palate, [Carohna or Sweet 

 Potato] in France ; and Baron Mortemart-Boisse 



made a report on the culture of Indian corn. 



The Meeting was closed by a concert under the 

 direction of M. Plantade, in which parts were 

 taken by Messrs Baillot, Vogt, BertinI, and Daba- 

 die, and Mad. Dabadie. The Members of the So- 

 ciety afterwards retired, and concluded the inter- 

 esting festivities of the day by a subscription din- 

 ner. The following are the prizes granted : A 



