182 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
HOVEY’S MAGAZINE FOE NOVEMBER. 
The visit of our cotemporary for this 
month was rather late ; hence our delay. 
The article in the last number on “ our neg¬ 
lected trees,'’ is followed in the present by 
one on “ our neglected shrubs.” The writer 
deprecates the rage for novelties, and points 
us to the splendid shrubs which form so con¬ 
spicuous a feature in our forests, and which 
are so highly prized and so extensively cul¬ 
tivated in the parks and pleasure grounds of 
Europe. The catalogue of popular sorts, 
such as the Snowball, Lilac, Syringia, Hon¬ 
eysuckle, Althaea, and a few others, is alto¬ 
gether too short, and might profitably be in¬ 
creased by wild shrubs quite as hardy and 
beautiful. 
The four principal"plants which we have 
overlooked are, the Kalmia, (known popular¬ 
ly as High Laurel,) the Rhododendron, 
(known in some parts as the Ruck Laurel,) 
the Azalea or Swamp-apple, and the Swamp 
Magnolia (M. glauca). To these may be 
added the Ledums, Andromedas, Rhodora, 
Vaceinimuns, Holly, &c. One of the most 
gorgeous sights of our New-England sum¬ 
mer, is the High Laurel in full bloom, in lo¬ 
calities where the shrub is abundant. Take 
such landscapes as may be found along the 
banks of Thames river, Connecticut, and its 
tributaries, in the month of June, and the 
handiwork of man is shamed in comparison 
with the unstudied grace and splendor of 
Nature. It is mainly because the plant 
bears transplanting with difficulty, that it is 
so seldom found around rural homes. It 
loves the shade, and is almost sure to die 
when taken from the woods and placed in 
an open yard. If transplanted young, and 
set in a copse, or in the shade of other trees, 
we think there would be less difficulty in 
making it live. 
The Rhododendron is a larger shrub, has 
a larger and more beautiful flower, a tropi¬ 
cal looking leaf, and is altogether rarer. In 
all our botanical rambles, we have never 
found more than two localities, in the State 
of Connecticut, and but one in Rhode-Island; 
and these are not extensive. It sometimes 
attains the height of fifteen feet, and when 
in flower makes a very beautiful object. 
Both this and the Laurel are successfully 
transplanted in the grounds of Asa Fitch, 
Esq., of Bozrah, Conn., and are very promi¬ 
nent among the shrubbery that adorns that 
beautiful home. 
Wilson Flagg has a characteristic article 
on “ Scenery and Rural Improvements in 
Western New-York.” He takes occasion to 
differ from Edmund Burk, Price, and Down¬ 
ing, in their use of the terms beautiful and 
picturesque. He denies the distinction they 
have sought to establish, and claims that ab¬ 
rupt scenery may be beautiful, and rolling 
scenery, with regular waving lines, may be 
exceedingly picturesque. There are no lines 
or figures which are exclusively picturesque 
— a word that is nearly synonymous with 
poetical or expressive — and which may, with 
equal propriety, be applied to the spires of a 
Gothic cathedral, or to the domes of an 
eastern mosque. We leave this nut for the 
critics to crack. We apprehend, however, 
that Mr. Flagg lives one generation too late 
to correct a distinction in the use of these 
terms, which have become so thoroughly in¬ 
corporated in the literature of rural art. 
The editor accompanies an article on “the 
pruning of dwarf pear trees,” with remarks, 
in which he approves of the system laid 
down by M. De Jonghe, of Brussels. The 
general course recommended in this system 
is, the removal of all shoots not required for 
the formation of a pyramid during the first 
flow of the sap, in the early part of the sea¬ 
son; following this practice up by the pinch¬ 
ing of laterals during the whole of the sum¬ 
mer, and thereby simplifying the winter 
pruning, which is reduced to the shortening 
in of the leading shoots to a good eye. The 
aim seems to be to prune when the vigorous 
growth of the tree will heal all wounds that 
are made, and keep the bark smooth. 
There is a description and an engraving of 
the Kenrick, the McClellan, and the King 
apples. The latter is thought to compare 
favorably with the Baldwin. Mr. Williams, 
of Newark, Wayne Co., New-York, an intel¬ 
ligent fruit-grower, says : “ We cultivate 
several varieties of the New-England apple, 
such as the Baldwin, Roxbury Russet, &c., 
and the King is superior to them all in flavor; 
it is equal to the Swaar, and two or three 
times as large ; the apple is one of the very 
handsomest in color. The trees are of the 
hardiest character, and bear every year, 
making a vigorous growth, even when load¬ 
ed with fruit. They soon outgrow all other 
trees in the orchard.” It will be recollected 
that there were magnificent specimens of 
this apple, both at our own and at the Con¬ 
necticut State Fair, which attracted much 
attention. It promises to be an acquisition. 
There are interesting editorial notes on 
the residence of D. F. Manrice, Esq., of 
Hempstead, L. I., and on the nursery of the 
Messrs. Hogg and Son, Yorkville. Mr. Man- 
rice is now experimenting on the southern 
mode of making the strawberry a perpetual 
bearer, at least during the summer. He has 
a bed excavated and filled with prepared 
earth, and so constructed that he can irrigate 
at pleasure, or have it quite dry. Fruit¬ 
growers will await the result with interest. 
.1. F. Allen’s work, on the Victoria Regia 
water-lily, is reviewed with commendation. 
The experiment of cultivating this magnifi¬ 
cent. plant is quite as successful at Salem as 
in England. The reviewer congratulates 
both author and artist upon their eminent 
success in their work. 
In a notice of the proceedings of the Mas¬ 
sachusetts Horticultural Society, it is an¬ 
nounced that the vote of censure passed 
upon the Fruit Committee—which gave cer¬ 
tain premiums to Messrs. Hovey & Co.—is 
rescinded unanimously. We are glad to see 
that the unhappy quarrel which has marred 
the peace and prosperity of this society is 
amicably settled. 
A French gardener is said to have discov¬ 
ered that by painting his hot-houses with 
coal tar—the refuse of the gas-house—all 
the insects so destructive to plants and fruits 
are destroyed. 
From numerous sources we learn that 
there is reason to fear an almost total de¬ 
struction of the vineyards throughout the 
greater part of middle and southern Europe. 
The disease spread over the country nearly 
a month earlier the present season than in 
any former year, and the grapes being 
younger, were less able to resist the attacks. 
A recent correspondent of the Evening Post, 
under date of London, October 31st, thus 
writes in regard to the cause of the disease : 
The first attack I conceive to have been 
from without, and to have fallen upon the 
leaves and fruit in the form of very minute 
and (to the naked eye) invisible sporules 
or seeds, of a peculiar fungus or mycelium, 
formerly either unknown to, or not noticed 
by botanists, perhaps because its blasting 
and destructive powers were never before 
called into action. The vine being thus 
covered with these small fungi, the stomata, 
or breathing-holes, which are the lungs of 
the plant, have sucked in the sporules, which 
have thus been introduced into the sap ves¬ 
sels, and on the fall of the sap, in the au¬ 
tumn and winter, have with it been carried 
into the very roots of the tree, as well as 
lodged in the sap vessels of the new shoots 
and old wood. 
The following spring, on the rising of the 
sap—that juice being full of the seeds of the 
fungi—the disease has shown itself in the 
new shoots and in the bloom-heads, and 
every infected vine has, in course, spread 
ruin around it in every direction, the spores 
or seed-pods ripening rapidly, and shedding 
thousands and millions of sporules, which, 
wafted by every breeze, settle on the neigh¬ 
boring vines ; those which had escaped the 
first invasion of the disease now becoming 
its victims. Thus from year to year the 
evil goes on increasing, until the ruin and 
destruction become universal. The more 
frequently a vine has undergone the dire 
and weakening effects of the blight, the less 
capable does it appear of bringing its fruit to 
maturity—indeed, much of the bloom never 
sets. 
After the most laborious experiments and 
investigations, in which I have had the as¬ 
sistance of clever and intelligent practical 
botanists and chemists, I can not refer the 
first attack to anything but atmospheric in¬ 
fluences and disturbances, causing an un¬ 
healthy state of the vines, thus rendering 
them a fit prey to this fungus, (the seeds of 
which are floating in the air,) unable to re¬ 
sist its insidious attacks. 
It would require that I should write a 
volume rather than a letter, were I to attempt 
to give a complete history of my experi- j 
rnents. I see in my brother’s present letter 
a confirmation of my own experiences as to 
the new shoots and bloom-heads absolutely 
bursting forth covered with oidium, and as to 
the unnatural exuberance as well as untime¬ 
liness of the shoots, which I also attribute 
to the peculiarities of the weather and sea¬ 
sons, and consider to be symptoms of the 
disease—indeed, symptoms not only dan¬ 
gerous, but harassing, as they tend to mis¬ 
lead—to create false and fleeting hopes, 
which, in a few weeks, must be dispelled by 
a sad reality. 
A young shoot snapped off and exuding a 
drop of sap, that sap, falling on the ground, 
has been found full of the fungi. In order 
to elucidate my ideas of the progress of the 
disease through the shoots, wood, and roots 
THE GEAPE BLIGHT IN EUPOPE. 
