368 



MY GARDEN. 



sulphur burnt in it, so as thoroughly to destroy all fungus mycelium. 

 During the winter I burn with good result a piece of sulphur, the size 

 of a bean, sometimes daily and never less than twice a week. The Rev. 

 J. Davies, of Moor .Court, near Hereford, in a vituperative article in 

 the Saturday Review, vol. xxxiv. page 195, states that " a drawback 

 is the smatch of sulphur which clings to the fruit." Mr. Davies 

 either could not have employed the sulphur.or he used it improperly. 



Berkeley states that the black specks which are common on 

 apples, and occasionally multiplied so much as to make them unsale- 

 able, are due to a fungus of the genus Spilocsea. 



We do not escape the ravages of the Dry-rot, which is a fungus 

 {Merulius lacrymans, fig. 857). A moist, still atmosphere is most 

 favourable to its growth, and hence it is very destructive in cellars. 

 To prevent its ravages, wood is sometimes soaked in corrosive 

 sublimate or creosote, which is driven into the pores of the wood. 





■^iwassMS? 



Fig. S57. — Dry-rot, with Spores 

 magnified. 



Fig. 857 a. — Trametes suaveolens. 



Fig. 858.— Sarcina 

 ventriculi. 



A current of air and free ventilation is an antidote to it. The vapour 

 of burnt sulphur, or a solution of the bi-sulphide of lime, may also be 

 used with advantage. 



Gur white willow trees {Salix alba) have been destroyed by a 

 fungus, the mycelium of which spreads upwards from the root in 

 sheets as thick as writing-paper, between the newly forming wood or 

 cambium and the bark. At first the foliage of the tree becomes thinner, 

 but afterwards the bark peels off in sheets, the new wood splits into 

 irregular squares, and the tree perishes. The fungus itself has not been 

 seen, but Mr. W. Smith thinks it may possibly be Trametes suaveolens 

 (fig. 857a). The attached trees are also covered by the destructive 

 Willow Aphis, an instance of the conjoined attack of aphis and fungus. 



