General Notices. 113 



have fully reviewed in Vols. VII and VIII. But our object 

 in noticing them at this time is to remark that there is now 

 no excuse for that farmer who pleads poverty as not ena- 

 bling him to read Liebig's masterly work. It has been pub- 

 lished in extra numbers of the New World, in neat type, 

 and good form for preservation, at the low price of 25 cents ; 

 and every farmer, who does not already, should possess a 

 copy. 



MISCELLANEOUS INTELLIGENCE. 



Art. I. General JVotices. 



Composition for Washing Grape Vines. — Vines after pruning maybe 

 washed with a composition made of one-half pound of soft soap, one 

 pound of sulphur, and one-quarter of an ounce of black pepper, to four gal- 

 lons of water, boiled together for twenty minutes, and make it thick 

 enough to adhere to the wood like paint. If it does not it may be thick- 

 ened with lime, adding a little soot to take off the glaring white color of 

 the hme. The proportions are of little conbequence ; the object of this 

 and similar washing being, by adhering to the wood, to prevent the eggs 

 or larvae of insects from adhering to the wood. ( Gard. Chronicle, 1^2, 

 p. 840.) 



Decay in Fruits. — It seems, from a paper read before the Microscopical 

 Society of London, by Mr. Hassall, entitled * An explanation of the cause 

 of the rapid decay of many fruits, more especially apples," that this fine 

 fruit is subject to early decay from the presence of a parasitical fungus, 

 which destroys it before maturity. The substance of Mr. Hassall's paper 

 is given in the Gardener''s Chronicle, from which we extract the following 

 in relation to it. 



After many prelimina,ry observations, the author stated that in placing 

 a portion of a decayed apple in the field of the microscope, he was much 

 surprised to observe vast numbers of ramified filaments, passing in all di- 

 rections between and around the cells of the parenchyma of the fruit. 

 " Herein then," observed the author, " I at once perceived that a satisfac- 

 tory explanation was afforded of the phenomenon of the decay of fruics, 

 that is, supposing the presence of the ramified filaments to be constant. 



* * * The ramified filaments were to be regarded as those of a 

 minute fungus, or of fungi, which by insinuating diemselves between the 

 cells of the pulp of the fruit, detached them from their connexion with 

 each other, thus producing a train of effects as follows : the relation of 

 the cells being disturbed, the process of endosmose can no longer be car- 

 ried on, and the circulation through the fruit becomes as a consequence 

 VOL. IX. — NO. III. 15 



