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THE GEKESEE FAEMER. 



BOTH USEFUL AND OKNAMENTAL. 



In the American Institute Farmers' Club, re- 

 cently, Solon Robinson, speaking of the cultiva- 

 tion of small fruits, remarked that he had growing 

 in his yard, as a mere ornament, the Spirea, which 

 blossoms only once a year, and which was useless ; 

 while the currant was a handsomer bush, and in 

 addition to ornament, it afforded a wholesome fruit. 

 Another year, if he lived, would root out the Spi- 

 rea, and put in its place currant bushes. In proof 

 of their superior beauty, he directed attention to 

 several branches of currant bushes laden with deli- 

 cious fruit, which several members of the Club had 

 brought in as specimens. A section from a cherry 

 currant bush, in particular, was singularly beauti- 

 ful ; the berries being large, of uniform size, and 

 equally distributed over all the branches. They 

 were more inviting than strings of rubies. 



Solon Robinson scarce forgave himself when he 

 thought of his unproductive Spirea, which has cum- 

 bered the ground that would as freely have bestowed 

 its gifts on plants yielding food for man — even the 

 berries his palate so relished in hot weather. But he 

 promised amendment for next year. Those currants 

 were delicious; so were the gooseberries, which 

 looked like big green plums that grow on trees. 



Yes, when it is as easy to cultivate what gives 

 beauty and food too as that which gives only beauty, 

 why not have the useful and the ornamental ? "We 

 rejoiced to hear wisdom speak in that strain. 



It is well for those who have plenty of land for 

 both ornamental shrubs and berry bushes, to beau- 

 tify their homes with a variety of attractions. But 

 if only one can be cultivated, by every considera- 

 tion let that one be such as yields food for man, 

 especially as such food has no substitute. 



Some kinds of the small fruits should grow in 

 every yard where there is a spot large enough to 

 giant a bush. — Life Illustrated. 



We are decidedly in favor of growing currants — 

 they are admirably adapted to our climate, easily 

 grown, very productive, and so useful for a variety 

 of purposes as to be quite indispensable in every 

 household. Their extended cultivation can not be 

 too often recommended, and especially the proper 

 cultivation of good varieties. 



The way to do this, however, is not to urge farm- 

 ers to dig up their spireas and other ornamental 

 shrubs. "We are too utilitarian. "We do not suffi- 

 ciently appreciate the beneficial effect of the beau- 

 tiful, either on ourselves or our children. Those 

 who take pleasure in ornamenting their homes and 

 keeping neat gardens, will usually be found the 

 most intelligent, the most thorough and the most 

 systematic cultivators. The man who plants pota- 

 toes in his front garden, seldom has good stock in 

 his yards or good crops in his fields. He who digs 

 up his spireas to plant currants, will set them out 

 in the corners of his worm fences, and leave them 

 to struggle with the Canada thistles for the mas- 

 tery. A stranger, seeing our friend Solon's recom- 

 mendation to dig up the spireas and plant currants, 

 would think the United States the most densely 



populated country in the world, and that there was 

 not land enough, under the best system of cultiva- 

 tion, to supply the inhabitants with the conmion 

 necessaries of life. 



GOOSEBEEKY MILDEW. 



Peof. Berkley, one of the ablest of cryptogamic 

 botanists, has recently examined the Fungus which 

 attacks the gooseberry in this country, and fur- 

 nishes a description of it for the London Garden- 

 er^s Chronicle, from which we extract the following : 



"It is extremely common in Pennsylvania, ex- 

 tending as high as Canada, and is frequently so vir- 

 ulent as almost to make the culture of smooth va- 

 rieties of the gooseberry useless, for it is only in 

 very favorable years that any fruit can be obtained. 

 The mycelium is as thick and felt-like as the clothy 

 web {Erysiplie 2)annosa) which so often attacks our 

 roses, and even when it does not entirely kill the 

 fruit renders it uneatable. In some years it is dif- 

 ficult to find a single berry which is not affected. 



The parasite is a member of the same section of 

 Erysipfie as the rose mildew, and hke that belongs 

 to Leveille's genus SphmrotTieca, characterized not 

 so much by its matted mycelium as by the perithe- 

 cia containing only a single nearly globular ascus 

 or sac. The primary or Oidioid state of the species 

 possesses no distinctive peculiarity. The tips of the 

 threads which spring from the circumference of the 

 perithecia have a brown tint, as indeed sometimes 

 is the case with the whole mass. 



Our American friends should take a lesson from 

 the grape mildew in behalf of tlieir gooseberries. 

 As the disease in its first stage like the grape mil- 

 dew is an Oidium, there is every reason to believe 

 that the same treatment will have similar results, 

 and as sulphur (at least sublimed sulphur) properly 

 applied is a sure remedy in the one case, we have 

 no doubt about its efficacy in the other. "We have 

 in Great Britain an allied Fungus which attacks 

 gooseberries. It seldom however does any mate- 

 rial injury, and never assumes the dense matted 

 form of the Sphcerotlieca. 



Our figure represents (1) a perithecium with its 

 processes magnified ; (2) the tip of one of these 

 more highly magnified and minutely granulated 

 (this character however is not constant) ; (3) two 

 of the asci with their contained sporidia highly 

 magnified ; and (4) two spores of the plant in the 

 Oidioid state. 



