74 Domestic Notices. 



Reid, Murray Hill. The silver cup, value $8, was awarded to Wm. 

 Webb, for a great display of dahlias. Mr. Kent, of Brooklyn, took the sil- 

 ver medal for the best seedling Dahlia, and Messrs. Wm. Reid and Wm. 

 R. Prince, were also awarded premiums for seedlings. A great number of 

 books were awarded as premiums for flowers, fruits and vegetables. — 

 (Report.) 



Pruning the Peach Tree. — Messrs. Downing, of Newburg, N. Y., prac- 

 tise a new mode of pruning the peach tree. It is cutting off two thirds of 

 the wood of the limbs every autumn. The advantages are, that the wood 

 hardens better, — the soft and tender twigs, not sufficiently matured to stand 

 the winter, and which are besides most likely to be injured by the aphis, or 

 other insects, — are taken away, by which the sap and wood of the remain- 

 der are rendered more sound and healthy. The number of fruit buds for 

 the succeeding year are increased, and there are plenty of leaves, by which 

 the sap is more perfectly elaborated, and the fruit is much larger and high- 

 er flavored. — (Cultivator for Dec, 1844.) 



Horticultural Society in New York. — We see by the newspapers, that ef- 

 forts are making in New York to organize a Horticultural Society, which 

 shall be as effective as those of Philadelphia or Boston. There seems to be 

 no want of material around that city to get up exhibitions, but there is a 

 want of cooperation, without which but little can be effected. It is the en- 

 deavor now, by the formation of a new society, to enlist the interest of ev- 

 ery amateur and cultivator. We hope these efforts may prove successful. 

 —Ed. 



Disease of the Potato. — Much has been said lately, in the agricultural 

 publications, of the disease which has so generally affected the potato. 

 We were absent at the time of the gathering of the crop, and therefore had 

 no opportunity to inspect those of our own growth. We raised about two 

 hundred bushels, mostly of early kinds, and we believe no traces of the dis- 

 ease have been seen. Not having had leisure to look into the subject, we 

 are yet ignorant of what the disease is, and although we have made inquiry 

 among our friends, for a diseased potato, we have not yet been able to get 

 one. Wishing, however, to keep our readers informed of the information 

 which has been elicited, in relation to its cause, we annex the following re- 

 marks from our correspondent, Mr. Teschemacher, communicated to the N. 

 E. Farmer, as the most reasonable theory which has been advanced : — 



" The peculiar smell, and the reputed poisonous qualities of this diseased 

 potato, made me nearly certain that it was a species of fungus — a position 

 which I think has been confirmed by my examination with the microscope. 



" The appearances which I examined were — 



"First, a nearly black discoloration of the potato, just below the skin, 

 penetrating about one-sixteenth to one-quarter of an inch into the substance, 

 and apparently through the skin, in little black indented tumifications, like 

 pustules : it is probable that in these holes the vegetation of the fungus first 

 begins, and spreads underneath. 



" Second, on the surface of the skin, where these pustules were enlarged. 



