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respondent, which he says has, for a couple of j^ears 

 past, disfigured his Apple trees, received. 



At first sight, it reminded me of an excrescence I 

 have met with on the Willow, (Salix eriocephala, 

 Mich.,) produced by a fly, which Fitch calls "ceci- 

 domya salices." On close inspection, by carefully 

 cutting down and into the excrescence, I could de- 

 tect no signs of a maggot-like larva, nor, indeed, any 

 trace of an insect production. I also noticed the 

 fungoid aspect of its upper portion, and agree with 

 you that it is of "fungoid origin." 



The interior presented a spongy mass, like an en- 

 largement of the pith, With an iron rust-like stain 

 towards the exterior portions on one side. Among 

 quite a number of fungoid excrescences, I have none 

 that compares with this found on the Apple tree, 

 and can, at present, assign no special name or cause 

 of its production. 



P. S. — I made a careful drawing, among a num- 

 ber of similar productions, both insect and fungoid. 



Evergreens from Lovettsville, Virginia— 

 J. G. R. K. — The specimens sent are : 

 No. ], — Retinospora ericoides. 



2, — Thujopsis borealis. 



3, — Cupressus Lawsoniana. 



4, — Libocedrus decurrens. 



5, — Juniperus tamariscasfolia. 



6, — " sabina. 



7, — " prostrata. 



8, — " squamata. 



9, — Libocedrus chilensis, probably. 



10, — Ketinospora obtusa. 



11, — Pinus sylvestris. 



12, — Abies nigra. 



13, — Picea pectinata. 



14, — Abies morinda, or Kuhtrow. 



15, — Abies alba. 



16, — Thuja occidentalis siberica. 



Of other evergreens, our correspondent sajT's : 

 The slips of Deodar Cedar are from the only spe- 

 cimen I have, — about 15 feet high, standing south- 

 east of the house, and about 4 rods from it, in a 

 stiff sod. It has never had the leader killed. It is 

 as brown now as it ever has been, except when it 

 was about 3 feet high. The greatest enemy it has 

 is a worm or insect of some kind, that eats the leaves 

 and bark off the small, tender limbs, in the latter 

 part of summer. T have never seen the thief. 



The Sequoia gigantea, 41 or 5 feet, is standing in 

 a cluster of othjr evergreens all around it, of equal 

 size, with a large Cherry tree, several rods off, to 

 break the morning sun: but it looks quite dead at 

 a distance. I sent 3 slips of it ; one, perhaps, the 



freshest twig on the tree, and there is only 2 or 3 

 branches on it that seems to show even that little 

 verdure. And there is no difference in the parts of 

 the tree exposed one way or another. It is surely 

 behaving very badl3^ 



The Silver Fir, — my largest specimen some 9 or 

 10 feet, — is acting singularly this winter. There 

 has been growing near, and on the south side of it, 

 a Philadelphus, several feet taller than it, but none 

 of the limbs were near enough to touch it. I took the 

 Philadelphus away late last fall, and, now, nearly all 

 that side of the Fir is affected similar to the twigs I 

 send you. Can it be from the shade during sum- 

 mer on that side, or do such tricks belong to the 

 species ? 



The White Pine T send you is from a specimen 

 4J feet high, standing in a spot of heaviest clay soil, 

 but very rich, — famous for the growth of wheat. A 

 more robust and healthy evergreen I never saw. It 

 is exposed both to wind and sun. 



I should, perhaps, have mentioned that the soil 

 of all the above-named trees are growing in, is a 

 heavy clay loam, with a good reddish-yellow clay 

 subsoil. The situation is elevated. Location 392° 

 N. latitude, subject to severe winds, which seem to 

 do more harm to evergreens than the keen frosts. 

 The thermometer made several low indexes this 

 winter: white frosts with bright sun following. 

 The 3 lowest degrees noticed were 13°, 12° and 6° 

 below zero. But several spells of windy weather 

 when the thermometer was nearly at zero, seemed 

 to whip the life out of trees more than the frosts. 

 About one-third of the Peach buds seem fresh, and 

 also some Apricots. The wet weather of the pres- 

 ent month (March) seems to be restoring life again 

 where it was nearly extinct." 



[The Sequoia gigantea sent has suffered from the 

 parasitic fungi referred to in back numbers of the 

 Monthly, and which bids fair to Cxadicate this noble 

 tree from our collections. We see it sufl"ering thus 

 in every direction. There are, however, we under- 

 stand, still a few fine specimens, as yet uninjured, 

 at Baltimore, Rochester and other places. All 

 evergreens suffer as your Silver Fir has, under sim- 

 ilar circumstances. The leaves were tender through 

 absence of light, and died away on full exposure, — 

 as a potato sprout from a dark cellar would. The 

 White Pine thrives well on heavy loams, provided 

 it is dry, — wet clays are fatal to it.] 



Horticulture in Kentucky. — A correspondent 

 at CyntJiiana^ Ky.^ says: — " Our Peaches in low- 

 lands were killed by a February storm, but we have 

 a chance yet on uplands. Vines in fine condition. 



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