PROCEEDINGS OF THE FARMERS' CLUB. 137 



salt hay keeps the mildcAv from mine, which were formerly badly 

 affected. 



R. G. Pardee. — I find generous culture and open pruning and 

 drenching with soap suds a good preventive. 



Wm. S. Carpenter. — I have manured with barn-yard manure, 

 and salt and ashes, and tended carefully, yet my bushes this year 

 are badly affected. 



Mr. Garvey stated that free ventilation was a remedy for 

 mildew. 



Mr. Carpenter replied that his bushes grown in the shade were 

 less affected than any other. 



Mr. Gale. — I have found, with the same ventilation and some 

 exposure, that one bush mildewed and another did not ; I can't 

 tell why. 



The Secretary stated that England grows the best gooseberries 

 of any country, and is the most moist and least sunny. 



Prof. Mapes. — The mildew is a fungi, and the condition under 

 which the disease flourishes best is in close grown bushes, where 

 the circulation of air is worst. I do not use barn-yard manure, 

 and I do not believe that any fruit except brambles can be made 

 to produce the best results with such manure. 



MUSHROOMS. 



Three years ago, I built extensive covers to grow mushrooms. 

 My great mistake was building with wood instead of brick. The 

 closeness, and fungi-producing atmosphere, destroyed the sound- 

 est chestnut timber in a short time. Now, if fungi flourishes 

 there so extensively, it is fair to conclude that a similar atmos- 

 phere in and about plants produces like effects. 



Mr. Doubleday. — In all places where steam in a low place is 

 produced, fungi will be generated, and attack timber or fruit, or 

 whatever is most liable to be affected. Charcoal dust is one of 

 the best substances that I know of to prevent the formation of 

 fungi. It is, no doubt, beneficial upon gooseberries. I know it 

 is valuable upon strawberries. 



The Chairman. — I have tried all the specifics I have ever heard 

 of, and all have failed with me. If good one year, it failed the 

 next; and now I have no faith in any. 



CORN CULTURE. 



Wm. S. Carpenter. — One of the advantages of the corn crop 

 is the value of the stalks. I believe that a ton of well-cured 

 stalks is worth nearly as much as a ton of hay. An acre of corn 



