THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



165 



The Annual Strawberry Meeting of the 

 Columbus Horticultural Society was 

 announced for the 7th of June, at the 

 Horticultural Hall, of the Ohio State 

 University, at 2.30 p.m. A basket 

 dinner was to be served at 5 p.m. 

 The ])rogramme included pa])ers on such 

 subjects as the following : — The Straw- 

 berry, from a Botanical Standpoint, by 

 Prof. W. R. Lazeuby ; from an Origin- 

 ators Standpoint, by M. Crawford ; 

 from an Entomologist's Stand|)oint, by 

 W. R. Alwood ; from an Editor's 

 Standpoint, by J. J. Jaiiney; from a 

 Chemical Standpoint, by Prof. H. A. 

 Weber ; from an Experimentor's Stand- 

 point, by W. J. Green, etc., etc. This is 

 surely a pretty full programme for one 

 afternoon and evening. 



It is certainly gratifying to notice in 

 so many instances professors in the 

 departments of science interesting 

 themselves in our horticultural so- 

 cieties. Horticultui-e is a science, and 

 for its successful development requires 

 the services of the botanist, the ento- 

 mologist, the chemist, the meteorologist 

 and others. The meetings of our 

 Association, in various parts of Canada, 

 afford a fine opportunity for the ])ro- 

 fessional and the practical man to 

 meet, a sort of field day for both to 

 engage in the stimulating exercise of a 

 mutual interchange of thought, study 

 and experience. 



THE BUG THAT CAUSES THE BLACK-KNOT I 



" Live and Learn " is an old proverb ! 

 and therefore we call the careful atten- 

 tion of our veteran horticulturists, and 

 of our students of science to the follow- 

 ing important (?) paragraph which is 

 just now going tlie rounds of our 

 Canadian ])apers without question. 



"Cure for Black Knot. —Hon. Allen 

 Francis, U. S. Consul at St. Thomas, 

 favors the Tinus of that city with a sure 

 cure for black-knot — a remedy he has 

 tried with tlie most beneficial results 

 His plan is to dig down to the roots of the 



affected tree four or five inches, bore an 

 auger hole in the trunk, and fill the hole 

 with flour of sulphur. The sulphur finds 

 its Wdy through the tree and effectually 

 kills the bug which is responsible for the 

 black-knot." 



Now we have been of late years 

 under the impression that the black-knot 

 is a fungus — a very low form of vege- 

 table life. Dr. Farlow, Prof, of Cryp- 

 togamic Botany at Harvaid University, 

 has ))ublished a i'ull account of this 

 minute plant, showing that small seeds 

 or spores are produced by it, too small 

 to be seen by the naked eye, and that 

 these carry the i)arasitic growth from 

 tree to tree. Prof. Panton, at Guelph, 

 too, is teaching the boys in the same 

 line concerning the black-knot. But, 

 gentlemen ! we ai'e all wrong it ap- 

 pears, for the Hon. Allen Francis tells 

 us that a bug is responsible for the 

 black-knot. He ought to go further 

 and say what bug. Is it anything like 

 a bed bug, or a squash bug ; or does he 

 mean a beetle \ 



Then about the sure cure, viz., flour 

 of sulphur, which finds its way through 

 the tree and kills the bug ! It is 

 rather a puzzle why he should dig down 

 four or five inches into the roots of a 

 tree in order to bore an auger hole into 

 the trunk. We always supp.sed the 

 trunk of a tree was above ground, but 

 we are learning something new every 

 day. The auger hole is to be filled 

 with sulphur, but how is it to find its 

 way to the black-knot 1 Botanists tell 

 us that plants can only take up sub- 

 stance in either a liquid or a gaseous 

 form, and that chiefly through the 

 delicate rootlets. The chemist tells us 

 that sul[)hur is insoluble in the state 

 above mentioned. How then does it 

 proceed from cell to cell through the 

 plum tree from this auger hole ] We 

 wait for fui'ther particulai'S. 



A New Strawberry Pest. — Reading in the 

 Fruit Growers Journal, of the proval- 



