106 



THE POMOLOGIST. 



August 



For the Western Pomologist. 

 The Coming and Going of Insects—The 

 " Germ Theory." 



Several years ago tlie 3Ieasure-worm was 

 the greatest enem}' to fruit and other trees 

 in this uoighborhood, and so destructive were 

 they as to divest many of their entire foliage. 

 Kow, however, aud for some years past, they 

 have been comparatively scarce, aud many 

 trees, which for years maiutaiued a doubtful 

 conflict with the depredators, exhibit signs 

 of restored health aud fruitfuliiess. 



It seems to me an iuterestiug question for 

 fruit-growers and others of an inquisitive 

 turn of mind, to investigate what we will 

 here call the laws of the coming aud going 

 of such visitants. How they make their ap- 

 pearance, increase aud multiply for a series 

 of years, aud then so suddenly disappear, 

 seems to be involved in much mystery. But 

 those who, like a writer in the New York 

 Commercial the other day.credit the riddance 

 of the worms to the birds, labor under a 

 great mistake. It is true the sparrow is a 

 pugnacious little fellow, and can destroy as 

 many insects per day as any feathered com- 

 panion of his weight, but he destroys no 

 more than what satisfies the calls of hunger, 

 which can only bean unapprcciable number, 

 reckoning the aggregate of geometers which 

 were wont to infest the trees in Brooklyn 

 and New York. During the years 1864, '65 

 aud '66, no where did those insects prevail 

 to a greater extent than in New Haven; but 

 since then they have so far decreased as to 

 do little harm. This reduction cannot be 

 attributed to the birds however, much less 

 to the European sparrow, for there are not 

 a hundred of them to-day within the limits 

 of the city. And to regard these as capable 

 of keeping such a formidable enemy in 

 check, would be quite as reasonable as to 

 suppose a dozen policemen could surround 

 and capture all the rogues in the United 

 States. 



Such facts are suggestive and seem to in- 

 dicate that many of the diseases to which 

 plants as well as animals are subject, — such 

 as blights and murrain, are brought about in 

 a similar way though the agents employed 

 are not recognizable by the senses. Of 

 course, this brings us to a point from whence 

 the "Germ Theory" can very visibly be 

 seen — a theory I have held for more than 

 twenty years, though iu the crudest possible 

 form. But perhaps the time is not remote 

 when the isolated facts which have a bear 

 ing upon the subject, coupled with others 

 now "floating about the threshold of au 

 age" of greater enlightment will be gath- 

 ered up and formulated, so that ordinary 

 men may understand with greater clearness 

 some phenomena which hitherto have been 

 shrouded iu mystery. 



I am the more encourged so to hope since 

 the publication of Prof Tyndall's lecture on 

 "Dust aud Disease," as facts are therein 

 stated which were only conjectures a short 



time ago. Then too, men of culture— brave 

 men — are laboring hard to reach solid 

 grounds of belief, as to the cause of such 

 diseases as cholera, small pox, rinderpest. 

 And this field of inquiry has not been barren 

 of results since " Haller has succeeded by 

 means of a peculiar propagating apparatus 

 iu developing from the Micrococcus found iu 

 choleraic evacuations the higher fungus 

 forms from which it is derived. The par 

 cut stock of the Choleraic Micrococcus is the 

 rice blight fungus, Urocystis oryzae which 

 is totally unknown in Europe, and is pecu~ 

 liar to the rice fields of India, whence the 

 Micrococcus has spread itself all over the 

 globe. It reaches the ground by means of 

 choleraic evacuations aud there,cspecially in 

 dung-heaps it continues to increase." It is 

 now generally conceded the potatoe disease 

 originated somewhat in the same way — iu 

 short, was the work of a fungus in the 

 micrococcus state, the first iu development, 

 in which and the next higher, Cryptococcus, 

 the yeast fungus does its work for the baker 

 and the good housewife — "A little leaven 

 leaveueth the whole lump." 



I was going on to say, or rather ask, might 

 it not be that the " unknown cause " which 

 has proved so destructive to evergreens in 

 the west is referable to the same class of 

 agents? It may be worth while for scientists 

 to look at the question iu this aspect, and 

 should they get their labor for their pains, 

 they will fare no worse than the writer has 

 often done when bewildered and perplexed 

 with the mysteries of nature. In such 

 moments there is a strange fascination aud 

 pleasure in conning over Carlyle's sobering 

 sentence : " Tlie course of nature's phases, 

 on this our little fraction of a planet, is par- 

 tially known to us; but who knows what 

 deeper courses these depend on ; what infin- 

 itely larger cycle (of causes) our little 

 Epicycle revolves on? To the minnow 

 every cranny and pebble, and quality and 

 accident, of its little native creek may have 

 become familiar ; but does the minnow un- 

 derstand the ocean tides and periodic cur- 

 rents; by all which the condition of its little 

 creek is regulated, and may from time to 

 time (unmiraculously enough), be quite 

 overset and reversed? Such a minnow is 

 man ; his creek, this Planet Earth ; his 

 ocean the immeasurable All ; his moonsoons 

 and periodic currents the mysterious course 

 of Providenc, the .^ous of ^ons." 



A. Veitch. 

 New Hnven, Conn. 



For the Western Pomologist, 



Profitable Fruit Culture. 



The subject of profitable fruit culture is 

 one of peculiar interest now to people of all 

 sections. To those engaged in agricultural 

 pursuits more especially, since grain raising 

 has become very unprofitable and the cost of 

 transportation so enormous ; to the denizens 

 of large cities and districts of country una- 



dapted to fruit-growing, important in an 

 economical sense, as fruit has and is becom- 

 ing an excellent aud indispensable substit\ite 

 for meat, latterly grown to be too expe.-sive 

 iu all markets. This is felt to be a great fact 

 realized by the journalists of America, and 

 daily is it heralded to men, who may im- 

 prove the suggestion, if timely heeded. It 

 is now believed that in cities where ripe 

 fruit can be purchased at fair prices in neces- 

 sary quantities, the general health of the 

 people is improved, aud those terribly afflict- 

 ing epidemics scattered and overcome. 



To avail one's self of facilities desirable in 

 the successftfl culture of fruits and vegeta- 

 bles for the best markets, it is essential to 

 locate on railroad lines penetrating such, 

 and on lands adaptable thereto as to soil and 

 climate. There is also, of course, another 

 consideration involved in reference to the 

 profit, and that is the cost of sure and expe- 

 ditious transportation for such perishable 

 but valuable products. 



All must readily admit that iu the far 

 south under the burning suns of early sum- 

 mer, the more juicy and teuder small fruits 

 can never be advantageously cultivated, as 

 the yield must therebj' be abbreviated as 

 well as the chances of reaching the more 

 northern markets iu good condition, reduced ; 

 and as good condition alone ensures a paying 

 sale, it must be set down as one of the first 

 items to be considered and satisfactorily set- 

 tled by one choosing the occupation over 

 that of grain or stock raising. 



I propose in some future number of your 

 Pomologist to give your readers some re- 

 sults of experiments aud facts made and 

 gathered from a period of life embracing 

 thinv years in active contact with the cul- 

 ture and handling of fruit, in the vicinity of 

 Dover, Del. Twelve years of this experience 

 ante dates the completion of railroads now par- 

 celing out the entire region of our peninsula, 

 and of course stretches over a period when the 

 introduction of fruits of indigenous growth 

 was discouraged by the impoverishinglj' low 

 rates meted out to the growers. A taste and 

 demand have at length been created for per- 

 ishable fruits in our larger, northern cities, 

 and facilities for transportation commensur- 

 ate with the trade afibrded until now, Del- 

 aware for profits challenges the sterile min- 

 eral regions of any SUite, and is fast assum- 

 ing au agricultural imjiortanee and beauty 

 surpassed by none. Men who have traveled 

 thousands of miles over American forests, 

 fields and prairies admit, that nowhere have 

 their eyes been greeted by more inviting 

 rural scenery or compensating soils. And 

 those seeking a change of home for health, 

 or advantageous circumstances iu the line 

 indicated, if neglecting to visit the three 

 counties on the Delaware, may never know 

 the loss they have sustained until it be too 

 late to be remedied. 



Elias S. Reed. 



Dover, Delaware. 



