THE GENESEE FARMER. 



283 



lone half tlie plant should die so suddenly and the 

 other half be healthy, I cannot imagine, unless 

 the main stem has been punctured by an insect — 

 l>ut there is no evidence that such is the case." 



" I suppose it is a fact that a particular part of a 

 plant derives its support from a particular part of 

 the roots. And if this is so, anything which in- 

 jures or destroys a particular root would injure or 

 destroy that portion of the plant deriving its 

 nourishment from it — while the remainder of the 

 plant might be healtliy." 



"It is on this supposition that I consider the 

 fact that a part of a pear tree blights and dies, 

 while the re.-t of the tree is unaffected, is no ob- 

 jection to my theory of the fire blight being caused 

 by a fungus at ihe roots," 



"Leibig, in liis new work on 'The Natural 

 Laws of Husbandry,' says, ' organic mattei's accu- 

 mulating largely in the subsoil, act very injuriously, 

 especially in clay, where they decay much more 

 Blo\^ly than in a lime soil. The process of decay 

 is communicated to the sickening roots, in which 

 spores of fungi find a suitable soil for their de- 

 velopment.' " 



"The fact is, any woody matter in decaying 

 tlowly in the soil produces fungus, and that the 

 spores of fungus can be taken up by the roots, is, to 

 say the least, not improbable. The pear orchards 

 in this vicinity that have suffered most from the 

 fire blight, are on soil filled with the roots of trees, 

 and on examination these old roots are found to 

 be covered with fungus." 



" In the last number of the London Florist and 

 Pomologist^ James Baenes, of Bicton, in an article 

 on the Deodara Cedar, says that this ' most noble, 

 OTnamental and graceful-growing tree ' is failing in 

 some parts of the country. The trees -become 

 rusty, and lose their foliage at the points of the 

 shoots. The largest tree of this kind at Bicton 

 ' is sixty feet high, with a trunk, two feet from the 

 ground, six feet nine inches in circumference, 

 branching beautifully and gracefully to the green 

 sward, in diameter from thirty-six to forty feet.' 

 It must be a magnificent tree ; but that is not what 

 I intended to read. Here is what he says about 

 fungus at the roots of trees : 



"There were also four large and beautifully 

 twining plants growing at each corner of a square 

 piece of water nere about twelve years ago. The 

 foliage of one, after some hot sunny days, turned 

 almost suddenly from a beautiful luxuriant green 

 to pale yellow. On examination, the foliage was 

 covered with a- very fine, minute mildew. Here 

 the plant stood a yellow, unhealthy looking object 

 till the following spring, unable to put forth new 



foliage. As the season and sun advanced off it' 

 fell, leaving a naked, dead tree." 



" This seems to have been almost as sudden as 

 the pear blight." 



" Mr. Barnes examined the roots, and says ; 



" I turned off the turf for a good distance about 

 it, with fork and spade the earth was thrown out. 

 Why, the roots were as white as a miller's jacket, 

 eaten up with fungus. It had run up entirely 

 through the heart or centre of the tree ; it was as 

 soft, dry, and druscy as an old dry-rotted beam or 

 board out of a cellar, eaten up with dry rot. "What 

 is the cause of this? Was it because it stands 

 high and dry several feet above the surface of the 

 water ? No, the soil contained a good many old 

 roots and pieces of wood that had been intermined 

 some years before by the shrubbery^ and had been 

 grubbed. This rubbishy wood was white with mil- 

 dew, druscy and brittle. Here, no doubt, was the 

 enemy, and the effect was exactly like larch rot, or 

 disease called by some." 



" In another part of the grounds there was a 

 fine clump or plantation of these trees. They did 

 remarkably well. But after they had been set out 

 twelve years one of the trees became sickly. 

 What was the cause ? Mr. Barnes tells us : 



"Why, on examination, an old hedge had for- 

 merly run across the spot, had been grubbed and 

 leveled. The old rotten, musty, mildewed, de- 

 cayed roots and sticks left in the ground were un- 

 doubtedly the forerunners of this mischief, to which 

 several other fine trees have since been sacri- 

 ficed." 



" Is it it not possible that the disease known as 

 the " Yellows " which is so injurious to peach trees 

 in New Jersey is caused in the same «vay. It 

 would be interesting to know if farmers there have 

 not been in the habit, after an orchard gets old, of 

 grubbing up the trees and setting out new ones on 

 the same land." 



" Here is a good illustration of the advantages 

 of sumrner pruning the grape. The Doctor thought 

 I pruned too close. So to satisfy him I left one 

 vine unpruned. The others I shortened in to 

 within two or three leaves of the bunches of grapes, 

 and pinched off the laterals. These vines are now 

 loaded with large, handsome clusters, while that 

 left to itself is one mass of shoots hanging over 

 from the top of the trellis, completely smothering 

 the few poor bunches of grapes inside. These 

 rampant shoots draw all the nourishment from the 

 grapes, besides shutting out the sun." 



" There can be no doubt that grapes need sum- 

 mer pruning. Perhaps a few gardeners prune to 

 excess, but the majority of the people prune too 

 little. In traveling about the country it is seldom 

 that one sees a properly trained grape vine. The 

 majority are left to themselves. People either 



