412 TRANSACTIONS OF THK 



Stacey, Mr, John W. Chambers, Mr. AtwoocI, Hon. Robert Swift 

 Livingston, Mr. Redding, Mr. Daniel C, Robinson, Mr. Vail and 

 many others — 51 in all. 



President Pell in the chair. Henry Meigs, Secretary. 



The miscellaneous business being first by rule. 



The Secretary read the following translations and extracts made 

 by him since last meeting. 



[The Farmers' Journal and Transactions of the Lower Canada Board of Agricul- 

 ture, Montreal, March 1857.] 



[We have received tliis paper from our valued corresponding 

 member, Mons. L. A. Huguet Latour of Montreal. H. Weigs.J 



THE FARMERS' FRIENDS AND HIS ENEMIES. 



The parasitic Fungi, often individually invisible, taking root on 

 or in the plants and feeding upon their juices. The fimgi are 

 leafless plants of very simple structure, growing from little 

 creeping Aims or fibres called their mycelium or spawn. They 

 are of various sizes and forms and are propagated by extremely 

 minute steds called spores, (which is Greek for seeds, H. M.) 

 either naked or in cases called sporidia, (pods). The mushroom, 

 toad-stool, and puff-ball, may serve as examples of the larger 

 forms, and the- fine dust with which the latter is filled, may give 

 good idea of the minuteness and diifusibiliiy of the spores of such 

 plants. The moulds which grow on stale bread, cheese, and other 

 decaying matters are examples of the smaller kinds, and when 

 we consider that sotne of these produce spores even smaller than 

 those of the putf-ball, we need not wonder that they appear so 

 readily whenever the conditions are afforded for their growth. 

 Such are rust, mildew, smut, dust-brand, &;c. Some of these 

 attack the straw, leaves, chaff", others the flower and the grain j 

 but all are alike minute fungi, spreading their spawn through 

 the tissues of the plants, and producing quantities of minute spores 

 to continue the plague. 



Rust or mildew, is a reddish, rusty, or dark-colored substance 

 which appears in the stems and leaves of wheat, speedily arrest- 

 ing its growth and bringing on premature decay. When exam- 

 ined by the microscope, it is found to consist of innumerable 

 minute fungi, that have burst through the skin and are growing 

 in dense patches and absorbing the sap of the plant. 



The rust plants probably belong to different species of the gen- 

 era p'uccinia and tiredo, (fungi). How do these species enter the 

 plant? It may be in two ways : by the minute pores or stomata, 

 (mouths) of the leaveSj which serve for the respiration of the 



