1876.] 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



37 



grate, and prcspiit a boliavior unlike that of any or- 

 ganized rcproduotivo liody. 



Not rcmaininef sat isfR'd, however, with so superfi- 

 cial an examination, I placed a well marked portion 

 of the potato, whieli was delective, in my section 

 machine, and sliced off several extremely thin sec- 

 tions, extending entirely across a s])ot, and enihrac- 

 insT, also, a wide niari^in of ai)parently sound potato. 

 These thin slices, I now tinlcd slii;litly with a solu- 

 tion of loi^wood, then I soakeil llicin in ijlycerine. 

 Tliis treatment caused all tlie air tii come out of the 

 shrivelled cells: made all tlie parts very transparent; 

 and the color was just sullicient to render tlie most 

 delicate morpholoi;ieal elements optically viRil)lc. 



Now, these prepared sections, under a jiower ;;ivinir 

 a linear ainplilication of 300, revealed clearly enough 

 the character of the disease. The cells adjacent to 

 the excavated spots are all shrunken, broken, and 

 collapsed; and this alteration of fur in in tlie cells, ex- 

 tends to a considerahle distance into the potato. Not 

 only is the change in the form of the cells, hut an 

 eiiual destruction has taken place in the cell mnlcnls. 

 In healthy i>otatoes, the iclls arc tilled with normal 

 starch grains, which a little iodine, or the use of 

 polarized light, will distiiiiruisli from all other or- 

 ganic products. Now, a wide zone of cells, surrounding 

 the diseased spot, presents all the cells ici^Aei'/ starch, 

 or, when a few starch grains are left renuiiniiig, their 

 structure is greatly altered, and the surface, natu- 

 rally even and polished, is uneven and granular. It 

 would not he possible for an insect to reach the starch 

 cells so far from the diseased spot . At a still greater 

 distance into the potato, the cells and their contents 

 are quite natural. 



Under this amplitication, the potato cells are very 

 large, and many of them, near the points of disease, 

 were crowded with beatl-like rows of cells of un- 

 doubted fungoid character; anil many threads of 

 separate mycelial fdarncnts (of course dead) 1 could 

 trace among the cells, and still adhering to their 

 transparent walls. 



I could not detect any object, in the present dried 

 state of the parasite, any representative body which 

 I could call a spore, unless the tf'riniuiil cell in the 

 beaded rows were such a body. I did observe, how- 

 ever, in very many otherwise empty cells, large, dark 

 colored, oval or round, cells, transiucent, and having 

 one, or more, distinct nuclei, in thera. Perhaps these 

 bodies are the oogonia, or resting spores, or winter 

 spores of the fungus. 



I have little doubt that the disease is caused by the 

 Peronospura iiifcstnnii, an old enemy of all the sola- 

 nac?e. Some very interesting jiajjers on this subject 

 have appeared recently in the publications of the 

 Hoyal Horticultural Society, the Oarilcncr'a Chroni- 

 cle for July 10, 1875, and Monthlij Micru.-ii'opical Jour- 

 nal for September of this year; by Berkely, Worth- 

 iugton, G. Smith, and others. In the last journal, 

 figures ofthe oogonia are given, and they hear a re- 

 semblance to the bodies to be seen in the potato thee 

 sent me. I cannot, however, speak certainly, in re- 

 gard to the identity of this fungus, because it is not 

 now in a living condition, and more time would be 

 necessary for the study. These few imperfect obser- 

 vations are all I can send thee at present. If oppor- 

 tunity and material should otl'er, in the coming sea- 

 son, I will more carefully examine the subject. "Very 

 respectfully, /. O. Hunt, M.D., 12 Xortli Tenth 

 street^ Philadelphia. 



For The L.\ncaster Farmer 



BAY WINDOWS FOR WINTER 

 FLOWERS. 



Bay window.s are now very fashionable, and 

 are admirably suited for growing handsome 

 pot plants in winter. A stage, with 

 shelves, may be made in the form of the 

 inside of the window, and set upon castors. 

 In the daytime it may be jiushed close to the 

 glass for light, and if nights are very cold the 

 stage may be drawn into the parlor, and 

 turned with the plants inward. Gas then 

 should not be much Inirned in the parlor, as 

 it is injurious to the plants. When there 

 is a party, and the parlor is lighted for a few 

 hours only, it will not injure the plants. The 

 stage, then, with the plants facing inwards, 

 will look very ornamental, and the ]iei'fumos 

 of the fragrant plants will scent the attiiospherc 

 of the parlor. Many choice plants will Mmirish 

 in bay windows which would die in jiarlors 

 with stiuare windows. During day time they 

 may be shut out from the parlor air liy light 

 doors; then fresh air can be adniilted by 

 moveable panes in tlie windows. \\'hen bay 

 windows are on the north side of houses, tliey 

 will be best for growing jialms, ferns, peri- 

 winkle, ivy, etc. Nearly ;ill the fancy plants, 

 set in vases, rustic stands, ferneries, hanging 

 baskets, etc., may thrive in northern bay win- 

 dows ; so they should be decorated with such 

 plants and ornainents. — Eden. 



For Thk Lancahtkr Farmkr. 



HUMMING BI RDS. 

 {Family Truchlllila:) 



(roNCLUDKO.) 



Considerable discrepancy prevails among 

 authors ;is to llie period recpiired to hatch the 

 eggs. Audubon gives it as ten days in the 

 case of the Ruby Tliii>at ; others v;iiy tlie 

 time from Iwevc to si,Ktcen days: the fact is, 

 the lime v;iries willi the .size of the birds. !«•- 

 ing longer in the largest species and shorter in 

 the siii;iller ones. Auilitlioii also says the 

 young are ready to lly in a week. This is an 

 error, we think, on the part of our great orni- 

 thologist. They are born blind and miked, 

 and altliotigh they grow rai)idly, double the 

 time ;illowcd them by otu" author is rei(uire<l 

 before they leave the nest. Here again, no 

 doubt, the time varies with the size of the 

 bird. The young ones are fed ;ifter the man- 

 ner of pigeons aiul canaries, by llirustinglhiMr 

 needle-like bills into the mouths of the liarent 

 birds, and thus rec(^iving the contents of their 

 crops. The iirocess of incul);ition is c;irried 

 on both by the male and fem:ile. 



Two broods are comnioiily produced in a 

 season by our beautiful reiinsylvania species, 

 which arrives here ;ibout the middle of April 

 and leaves us near tin' close of Si-pleinber. In 

 the West Indies and South Anieric;i, howi'ver, 

 three and four families ;ire raised in a year. 

 There the period of nidilieation runs through 

 the whoU' twelve months. Mr. (iosse inforins 

 us that in Jamaica he found their nests with 

 young ones during every month of the year, 

 but they were more plentiful during the month 

 of .June tlian at any other time. Other authors 

 mentiiui .laiuuiry to be the favorite period for 

 incubation in tropical South America. While 

 hatching, the female sits very clo.sely, and will 

 permit the near approach of a person if made 

 quietly ; indeed, .sometimes she will almost 

 allow herself to be taken ere she quits thenest; 

 even when building, she iiermits a watcher to 

 remain within a few feet of the .scene of her 

 operations without exlul)iting any distrust or 

 alarm. If, however, much molested while in- 

 cubating, or even after the chicks are out of 

 the eggs, she sometimes removes them to an- 

 other place. In this, Ilumining birds are not 

 peculiar, as a number of other birds are known 

 to do likewise under similar circumstances. 

 Two Humming birds' nests are rarely found in 

 the same vicinity. Their incubation is never 

 enlivened by the presence of strangers. They 

 exhibit much exclusiveness in this particular. 

 Neither are they gregarious in a general sense. 

 They never congregate in .social groups ; they 

 are sometimes seen together in large luniibers, 

 in the tropics, around the llowers of some favo- 

 rite tree, but even then only in search of food; 

 each individu;U Conies singly anil departs alone. 



In laying onl.v two eggs, the Hummers I'orm 

 au exception to the almost universal liiw that 

 obtains among feral birds, that the number of 

 eggs is in proportion to the size of tlie birdsthat 

 lay them. In the larger tribes, we almost in- 

 variably find the eggs to be few. while they are 

 much more numerous in the smaller ones. A 

 little retlection will let us into this secret of 

 nature. If the natural increase of raptorial 

 birds was as great as that of the sm;iller tribes 

 which constitute their jirincipal prey, that nice 

 equilibrium which obtains in nature would be 

 destroyed, and the rapacious kinds literally 

 swarni, while the rest would graduallv dimi- 

 nish in numbers, and jierhaps ultinnitely be- 

 come extinct. Humming birds, from their 

 minute size, their extraordiiuiry rapidity of 

 wins, and their indomitable coiu-ige, ;ue ex- 

 emiil from most of the dangers that continu- 

 ally menace the sparrows and linches. There- 

 fore, while they l:iy only two eggs, they are 

 far more abundant in .Vnierica than the wren is 

 in Europe, although the littler lays from twelve 

 to twenty eggs. 



If the" natural enemies of the Humming 

 birds are few, Iherc is yet one whose ravages 

 1 of late years have far exceeded all the rest 

 combined. Man has l)egun liis career of de- 

 vastation amid their ranks, and at tlie beck of 

 the Moloch of Fashion, countless thousands are 

 now yearly destroyed to decorate female head- 



gear. Since the first part of this article wiis 

 written, at a sale of orn;nneutal birds and 

 feathers held in London last month, no less 

 than lifleen thous;iiid of the.>*e beautiful crea- 

 tines were sold; seven hundred and forty be- 

 longed to a single sjiecies. This is, perliaps, 

 not :> tentli part of the number wantonly de- 

 stroyed every year. Has the world been made 

 wiser or Ix'tter or more humane In'cause of 

 this imrestricted sliiiigiiter V II;is not, on the 

 conlniry, .so much Ix-auty and liappiiipss In'en 

 taken out of it, and will the most slavish 

 votary of fashion pretend tluit tlie lifeless bird 

 fastene<l on her wearing ajiparel, can confer 

 on any one a tittie of the pleasure that would 

 be felt at seeing it disporting in unrestrained 

 hajipiness in its native wikis, full of life and 

 beauty iind jfiy V 



In the matter of geographical distribution, 

 the Trocliilida- present .some striking jieculi- 

 aritii's. Swallows and Falcons are <'onimon 

 to all countries on the glolie. Australia alone 

 has no Woodpeikers ; .Magpies range the 

 woiid over in liniiieiiite kititudes. but tlie 

 Iluniiniug birds, the most numerous family in 

 the world, are conlined to this continent and 

 its adjacent iskinds, and tlie large majority of 

 the species to the torrid zone. C'omiiaratively 

 few migrate Ijeyond the wiirmer latitudes ; 

 this is not very wonderful, but it is very sur- 

 prising that such as do leave tlic tropic heats, 

 penetrate to the regions of snow and ice. (.)ur 

 own viiriety, the Kuby-throat, has lieen found 

 as far north as the ijlst degree of latitude, 

 while another species (T. Forjiattun) has a 

 range southward of •>,-)00 miles and is often 

 .seen Hilling through tlip snow storms of Terra 

 del Fuego, as blithely as in the w;irm, dry 

 climate of I'eru. Von Tschudi, as (pioted by 

 Iltimlioldl in bis "Aspects of Nature,"' saw 

 them on the Andes at an elevation of 14,(itK) 

 feel, while Houreicr tbuiid them breeiiing on 

 the rockv sides of Chiiiiborazo, at a height of 

 10,000 feet, while sheltering himself from a 

 violent .snow storm. In view of tliese facts, 

 and many simikir ones we might mention, wc 

 liavi- sonic dilliculty in reconciling with them 

 Wilson's statement, when he tells us they are 

 extremely susceptible to cold, and of which 

 thetny he gives us a supposed case in his very 

 charming and valuable work. 



If, however, a wide migration characterizes 

 a few species only, and of which we have just 

 given instances," the welj-delined and ex- 

 traordinary localization that marks so many 

 of the faiiiily is almost iiuomalous among the 

 aves. Altlio'us;li gifted with such rare powers 

 of wing, the h;ibitat of some is exceedingly 

 circumscribed ; a mountain, a valley, a wood, 

 a marsh, an island, and even the crater of an 

 extinct volcano oft-times liasa sitecial resident- 

 siiecies, even though these districts may lie 

 only a few miles in area; this seems all the 

 more incomiirehcnsible to us when we retlect 

 how widely migratory others are. That the 

 m.ajor ])art of this nlimerous tribe should be 

 found within the tropics, wecanea,sily under- 

 stand, because there their food, both animal 

 and veget;ible, is most abundant and constant, 

 but this rigorous local distriliution within the 

 tropics themselves, is haril to understand. It is 

 unkuowuwhetlier migrations of the few extra- 

 tropii-al species are performed during the 

 night or in tlie davtime; from their incon- 

 siderable size this "question will prove very 

 dillietilt of verilication ; neither do we know 

 whether these journeys are made .separately 

 or in company ; perhaps the former, a.s they 

 have never been obsened to manifest gregari- 

 ous habits, even when the time for their de- 

 parture has come. 



All ;ittenipts to keep these birds in a state of 

 conlineineut for anv considerable period have 

 hitherto failed. A few mouths, at most, are 

 all these (lelic;ite creatures are able to bear ; 

 interesting experiments, bearing on this ques- 

 tion, have been tried by AVilson and others. 

 In a single instance were two young ones 

 taken to I-:urope under favorable circum- 

 stances, but they died soon after reaching 

 there. Even the non-migratory species refuse 

 to thrive under such a life in their native 

 regions. Sugar and honey are the principal 



