26 Woodside. 



from almost every apple tree, and sometimes two or three 

 occur on the same tree. Many other plants are attacked by 

 this interesting parasite ; an authority on the subject has 

 told me of no less than thirty kinds of trees on which it has 

 been found in these counties, including, besides the apple, 

 which is easily first, six different species of poplar, the 

 aspen, hawthorn, lime, white-flowering acacia, three species 

 of maple, mountain ash, ash, willow, hazel, oak, sallow, 

 sycamore, wild rose, pear, alder, medlar, wych elm, two 

 species of horse-chestnut, and American crab. Such a list 

 as this is very comprehensive, and, as in Kent, oak comes a 

 long way down in order, when the number of times which 

 each kind of tree acts as " host " is considered. 



These parasitical plants are very interesting. The 

 mistletoe, as we all know, has sticky white berries, which 

 are eagerly sought after in the winter by birds for food. 

 Frequently they fly with them to another tree, eat the pulp 

 surrounding the seed, and leave the latter behind : this 

 adheres, by reason of the viscidity of the particles of pulp 

 still attached to it and the double anchors with which the 

 seed is provided, to the branch of the tree where the meal 

 is eaten. On the branch the seed germinates ; a crack in 

 the bark receives the sucker-like root, which soon penetrates 

 into the meristematic or growing tissue of the tree ; up this 

 growing tissue the sap passes on its way to the leaves, and 

 the sucker-like root of the mistletoe is thus enabled to 

 absorb a part of the food which the tree has elaborated for 

 its own sustenance. 



But all parasitical plants are not so conspicuous as the 

 mistletoe ; on the contrary, many are excessively minute. 

 The deadly diseases to corn crops, known as "bunt," " smut," 



