June 22, 1882. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
519 
Foxgloves are raised from seed, and it is doubtful if there is a 
wrong time to sow them. Some seed that I threw in the snow 
produced a fine batch of plants ! Still, just when the seed is ripe, 
or in spring, may be safely chosen. The plants need placing out 
a foot apart for the first year, and when strong enough may be 
planted where they are to flower, which they will do the first year 
after, though possibly they will be much finer the following year. 
Any soil will suit them, but to have innumerable spikes and 8 feet 
high rich deeply-dug soil is necessary. Such a sight is worth an 
autumn flower show, especially when there is a variety of colour 
from white all through the shades of red up to purple.— Single- 
handed. 
PEACH BLISTER. 
“ Can you tell me what is the matter with my Peach trees 1 
All the leaves are like those I send. I am anxious to know the 
cause of the evil, and a remedy.” So writes “ K. K., Cheshire," 
and another correspondent has also required information on the 
same subject. The samples sent to us are identical with a spray 
we sent to Mr. Worthington G. Smith seven years ago. They 
were subjected to a microscopical examination, and an excellent 
engraving was prepared by Mr. Smith, which we reproduce with 
references to the several parts so clearly delineated. 
In the accompanying cut, A shows the Peach blister as com¬ 
monly seen ; when the fungus is present a white bloom may 
here and there be detected on the red blister, and this bloom 
when magnified one thousand diameters linear is seen as shown 
at B. It is excessively minute as compared with the thickness of 
the leaf and its component cells ; the latter magnified to the same 
scale are seen at c. The fungus consists of a stratum of fine 
threads, which throw-up a series of small flask-like bodies (asci) 
filled with spores, the flasks being mixed with necklace-like 
growths D, which are clearly a second form of fruit. Each ascus, 
or flask, contains eight spores, which at certain moments open at 
the top, as at E, and discharge their spores (which are analogous 
with seeds), into the air to continue the existence of the species 
elsewhere. 
This shows most clearly the fungus (Ascomyces deformans) which 
was working such mischief in the leaves. “ K. K.” will now see 
“ what is the matter ” with his Peach leaves, but as to the cause 
of it there is a great divergence of opinion. The majority of 
scientific men regard the fungus as the actual cause of the evil; 
the majority of gardeners, on the contrary, regarding it as the 
results of a predisposing cause—namely, cold winds that check 
the growth of the leaves and rupture the sap vessels, thus pro¬ 
viding a suitable nidus for the germination of the spores of the 
corroding parasite. 
It will not be inappropriate to adduce some evidence that has 
been submitted by the respective authorities in support of the 
E 
D 
Fig. 108 .—Peach blister with accompanying fungus (ascomyces beformans). 
c 
different theories. Mr. Smith, on the page quoted, referred to 
the specimen figured as follows :— 
“ When the specimens were exhibited before the Scientific Com¬ 
mittee of the Royal Horticultural Society, Mr. Smee, who is well ac¬ 
quainted with the disease, expressed his belief that the blistering was 
caused by an injury inflicted by an aphis, and he has expressed an 
opinion elsewhere that the fungus is seldom really seen with the 
blister, but that the aphis is an invariable accompaniment. De Bary, 
however, and Berkeley say the blister is caused by the fungus, and 
the former has published a figure of the mycelial threads as seen in¬ 
side the leaves amongst the cells before the perfect fungus appears 
upon the surface. However this may be, we must confess that our 
views range on the side with Mr. Berkeley, and we imagine the reason 
why the fungus is not invariably seen is simply because in its early 
condition it°is confined to the interior of the lamina of the leaf, and 
its life may possibly be brief in its perfected state on the exterior. 
The spawn of the fungus, like the spawn of the Potato disease, is cor¬ 
rosive, and changes the green colouring matter of the cells from the 
usually healthy hue to a deep blood red.” 
There are two forms of blister with which we are well ac¬ 
quainted, one of which is almost invariably accompanied by 
insects if it is not caused by them, the other being as a rule per¬ 
fectly free from aphides, as in the form figured, and also as sent 
to us by our Cheshire correspondent, and we submit this in ex¬ 
planation of the differing views of the late Mr. Smee and Messrs. 
De Barry, Berkeley, and Smith. On page 481, vol. xxx., Mr. 
Luckhurst writes : — 
“ Peach blister is caused by the exposure of the expanding foliage 
to the influence of frost or cold cutting winds. Here are a few 
examples—1, Upon a west wall every tree is perfectly healthy with a 
free, strong, unchecked young growth clothed with fine foliage, per¬ 
fectly clear and quite free from blister or blemish of any kind. 
2, Upon a south outer wall, along which the cold east wind swept un¬ 
checked, the foliage of every tree, both Peach and Nectarine, is much 
blistered, but some leaves are quite sound, and these are near the base 
of the shoots and have had the shelter of the tips of surrounding 
shoots. Still clearer evidence of the scathing power of the cold wind 
is gained from a few shoots which, springing out further from the 
wall than the others, have their projecting tips entirely affected by 
blister—leaves, leafstalks, and the soft young wood itself are all dis¬ 
coloured, swollen, and contorted, having a miserable, sickly, gouty 
appearance. 3, Upon a south inner wall all the trees near the east 
end, and therefore having the shelter of the east wall, are quire sound, 
but further on where the trees are more exposed they are affected by 
blister precisely in proportion to the extent of such exposure. Cold 
ungenial weather is the sole cause, and that we have the remedy in 
our hands by planting on a south-western aspect and by affording 
suitable protection to trees in more exposed situations.” 
Mr. Luckhurst does not confound the two forms of blister here, 
but clearly distinguishes them, for he subsequently says three 
