AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[July, 
The Peach Curl Fungus. 
The prevalent and injurious deformity of the 
peach leaves known as “ the curl,” has been as¬ 
cribed to aphides or plant liee, but it is now known 
to be caused by a minute fungus, known to science 
as Taphrina deformans, for which “ Peach-Curl 
fungus ” will serve as a popular name. This para¬ 
sitic plant makes its appearance in early spring, so 
soon as the leaves begin to unfold, and causes them 
to roll and twist until they would scarcely be re¬ 
cognized as leaves. The fungus grows within the 
tissue or substance of the leaf ; the affected por¬ 
tions lose the normal green color and soon become 
spongy, and are frequently variegated with red and 
otherwise highly colored. Often the young stems 
become enlarged and of a sickly whiteness. All 
affected parts soon wither, turn brown, and die. 
Without going into the microscopic structure of 
the fungus, we will say that it is a not distant rela¬ 
tive of the Black Knot, and should be treated in 
the same way. Remove all the affected parts as 
soon as the fungus appears. To pick off the leaves 
is not enough ; the young branches should be cut 
away, as they will otherwise produce diseased leaves 
and serve to propagate the fungus. The work of 
removing the “ curl ” is not a difficult one, as it 
ly good. Freight from Chicago to Liverpool is 
now only 34 cents per 100 lbs., or less than 8 cents 
for the dollar of value, so that the meat is laid down 
at Liverpool for less than $5 per 100 lbs. This mat¬ 
ter of freight may be considered instructively; 100 
lbs. of pork represents 600 lbs. of corn ; the freight 
on the corn would be equal to $2, and the com sells 
now in England for $5.60 for the 600 lbs., leaving 
$3.60 for the corn in its raw condition, and $4.50 for 
the finished product, the pork. 
This shows the advantage of ship- , 
ping finished products instead 
of the raw material; and of send¬ 
ing those abroad and feeding all 
the corn possible at home. This 
helps, too, in another way, be¬ 
cause every bushel of corn re¬ 
served from export enhances 
the value of the remainder, 
ladies, and much of the prosperity of the place 
may be ascribed to its influence. There are few 
pursuits in which association is so helpful as in 
gardening, and Clubs of this kind are useful.— Ed.] 
A Cattle Shed. 
A young farmer of Greenvale, W. Va., sends 
sketches of a shed for cattle which he has been 
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Fig. 1.— PERSPECTIVE VIEW OF CATTLE SHED. 
while, with the present increasing demand for 
meats, there is no probability of materially lower 
prices, even with a greatly increased production. 
PEACH-LEAVES AFFECTED BY THE “ CURL 
can be easily seen, and is reached in most cases 
from the ground. The portions cut off should 
be burned, to prevent the spread of the trouble. The 
specimen selected for engraving was not as much 
deformed and contorted as many we have seen ; 
but it serves the purpose better on that account, 
as the leaves are seen to be those of a peach tree. 
Value of American Pork in England. 
While much is now said about the shipment of 
provisions to Europe, the business is by no means 
a new one. America has been an exporter of pro¬ 
visions for many years, and Great Britain has been 
the principal purchaser. Twenty-five years ago, 
the writer, then traveling in England, saw Ameri¬ 
can pork in barrels on sale at retail stores marked 
3 pence sterling, or 5 cents per pound. American 
corned beef and flour were then sold at 7 or 8 cts. 
for the former and 16 shillings, or $4 per barrel, for 
the latter. After the lapse of a quarter of a cen¬ 
tury, we find our pork again landed in Liverpool at 
a trifle less than 5 cents per pound, and our flour 
sells for but little more than the old price. But 
these low prices now return a much more liberal 
payment to the farmer than previously. The re¬ 
duction in freight, during the past few years, is 
enormous. For instance, long and short pork ribs 
are quoted just now in Chicago at $4.50 per 100lbs., 
which, considering the present price of eorn is fair¬ 
A Ladies’ Garden Club—An Example. 
A correspondent well known in horticultural and 
botanical circles, thus writes to the editor:—The 
ladies of our street have got up a Garden 
Club! I live, as you know, in a subur¬ 
ban village, in which rarely anything 
happens to write to you about; for not 
much is done 
hereabouts in the 
agricultural way. 
But here is some¬ 
thing to make a 
note of. This 
Club is made up 
of ladies only, 
and is confined 
to those of our 
street, to the 
women of only a 
dozen and a half of families, who live in 
houses with door-yards and a bit of 
garden. They have got a President— 
the most experienced plant-grower of 
the lot—and a Secretary, and a record- 
book, and they hold meetings once a 
week, in the afternoon. They won’t 
take in members out of our street—they 
have got to draw the line somewhere— 
and they think that a dozen or two 
women are quite enough for one gather¬ 
ing, whether they all talk at once, or 
take turns. They are getting on beauti¬ 
fully. They take two or three horti¬ 
cultural magazines or papers among 
them, and are going to subscribe for more; of 
course, including the American Agricultwist. At 
the meetings they read aloud some of the articles, 
and discuss them, and each one gives an account of 
her own doings and raisings, how she has managed 
to get up Sweet Peas, or made Nasturtiums blossom 
all winter in the parlor, or carried tender plants 
through the trying season. They are now getting 
up their orders for flower seeds, and considering 
what kinds it is best to have. The way I came to 
know about it is, that I am a bit of a botanist, and 
know the names of things, and what are annuals or 
perennials—(per-annuals, as an old neighbor of 
mine used to call them), and can tell them what 
sorts of things a Calbnyction speciosum and Zanschne- 
ria Californica are, and if they are hardy. So they 
chose my wife, and even wanted to make her Pres¬ 
ident, though she is not strong in flower-growing, 
and as to names, gets Begonia and Bignonia mixed 
up badty,—not for want of knowing the two things, 
but forgets which is which. So through her and 
the questions she brings to me, I get a good inside 
view of the operations. Seriously this Club is use¬ 
ful, and I wish to commend it as an example. G. A. 
[This is an example to be heartily commended, 
and perhaps in a large town small Clubs like the 
one described may be more effective than larger 
ones. Vineland, N. J., which has been foremost in 
many good things, has long had a Floricultural So¬ 
ciety composed, If we mistake not, exclusively of 
building this spring, to serve until he can build a 
good bam. The shed is 111 feet long by 26 feet wide, 
and a cistern receives the water from the roof. The 
posts are 14 feet long, and there is a space above 
that will hold 40 tons of hay, and a space below, 7 
feet high, that will accommodate 60 sheep, 20 
calves, and 20 other cattle. The frame consists 
entirely of poles and posts that were cut in the 
woods, and put up without hewing. The plates, 
rafters, etc., were sawed. One side and two ends 
are boarded up, the rest is covered with clap¬ 
boards. One of my men and myself cut and hauled 
Fig. 2.— GROUND PLAN OF CATTLE SHED. 
the poles, and did the framing, and it has not cost 
me over $50 in money. The cistern is so arranged 
that the water will run out into a trough until it is 
empty, without having to draw or pump. Figure 1 
is a perspective view of the shed. The side braces 
are poles 8 feet long. They rest at the foot on the 
cross-pfece at the middle of the post, and are halved 
in and spiked to the post, and the upper end sup¬ 
ports the plate in the middle. Figure 2 is the 
ground plan, on which 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6, are lots 
opening into all the fields on the farm ; 7 is the 
cistern, A is for sheep, B and C for cattle, and Dand 
Fig. 3.— DIAGRAM OF BENT. 
E are drive-ways. Figure 3 shows the end and mid¬ 
dle bents. The long brace is halved into the iu- 
side post, in the joist, and in the top of the outside 
post, and spiked with 60-penny spikes at each place. 
Gapes. —However frequently we may explain the 
fact that no living thing can come spontaneously 
or from nothing, there will be those who lose chicks 
from the disease known as gapes, who insist that, 
the worms in the chicks’ throats come into the 
birds spontaneously. Some even go so far as to 
say that they come with the chicks out of the eggs. 
There are yards where the gapes have never ap¬ 
peared. In these the chicks do not run over ground 
that has been used by old fowls, but are kept on 
fresh ground, and frequently changed. A healthy 
yard for young chicks may be made upon turf 
kept shaved closely with a lawn mower, and upon 
which the coops are set upon a dry floor, that can 
be sanded sad cleaned every two or three days. 
