1866.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
233 
The Buffalo Berry. —{ShepJierdia argentea.) 
When the blackberry was first introduced as 
a cultivated fruit, one of our horticultural writers 
remarked that probably there were others of 
our wild fruit-bearing shrubs that would soon 
be included in the garden, and as one of these 
he mentioned the Buffalo Berry as promising to 
reward the attention of the cultivator. We are 
not aware of any attempts to cultivate the shrub 
for the economical value of its fruit, 
though it is grown here and there in 
collections, on account of the ornamen¬ 
tal appearance it presents when its ber¬ 
ries are ripe. The Buffalo berry is found 
on the banks of the upper Missouri, 
the Saskatchawan, and other large 
rivers of the Northwest, where it forms 
a low tree, with its smaller branches 
ending in stout spines. A small branch, 
of the natural size is given in the en¬ 
graving. The leaves have a silvery 
hue, and are found, when closely exam¬ 
ined, to be covered with scurf-like 
scales. The flowers are small, with¬ 
out petals, yellowish and inconspicu¬ 
ous, with the staminate and pistillate 
ones on separate plants. The berries 
are about the size of small currants, of 
a fine scarlet color, and produced in 
such abundance as to give the trees, 
late in summer, or early in autumn, a 
showy appearance. The fruit is of a 
pleasant acid, and is highly valued for* 
preserves, being esteemed, by those who 
are acquainted with it, as preferable to 
currants. The shrub was first described 
by Nuttall, who named it in honor of 
Mr. Shepherd, a foijner curator of the 
Liverpool Botanical Garden; the spe¬ 
cific name, a/rgentea, refers to the sil¬ 
very character of the leaves. The 
Canadian French used the berries to 
give a relish to their dried meat, and 
called them by the rather fanciful name 
of “Buffalo-fat,” whence we get the 
name Buffalo-berry; it is also calledRab- 
bit-berry in some parts of the country. 
Nuttall long ago called attention to 
this as a plant likely to prove servic- 
able for hedges. It is perfectly hardy, 
bears cutting well, is of sufficiently 
rapid growth, and holds its leaves well 
in autumn. A tree near Boston is said 
to have reached the height of fifteen 
feet in eight years from the seed. The 
plants are sold at the nurseries for 50 
cts. each. In order to obtain fruit it is 
necessary to set out both staminate 
and pistillate kinds. It is propagated 
by sowing seeds, and from suckers.' We hope to 
see this native shrub more common than it now is. 
side of the case, we may say that the weight of 
evidence seems to point toward the view that 
some predisposing cause, some sudden debility 
in the plant, prepares it for the attacks of the 
minute parasite, which a perfectly healthy plant 
is able to repel. The discussion of this point is 
not our present object. We wish to call atten¬ 
tion to the remedy, which general experience 
has shown to be servicable in checking the rav¬ 
ages of mildew. The trouble is not confined to 
Mildew and its Treatment. 
Despite the assertions that we know nothing 
about the cause of mildew—we know very lit¬ 
tle about the cause of anything—there are some 
facts in its history that are well established. It 
is just as well established that mildew is a plant 
that lives upon the tissues of other plants—mi¬ 
croscopic in size, but nevertheless a plant and 
capable of reproducing its kind—as it is that an 
oak or a vine is a plant. There is one point, 
however, not so well fixed, and that is whether 
mildew ever appears on a healthy plant, but is 
not an indication of, rather than a cause of dis¬ 
ease. Without committing ourselves to either 
BtrFFALo ■BER-RY.—{Shepherdia argentea.) 
the grape alone, but many other plants suffer 
in this way. Last year the celery crop both 
in this country and in Europe, was severely in¬ 
jured by mildew. It is not likely that the mi¬ 
nute fungus is the same on plants so different as 
the grape and the celery, etc., but they are simi¬ 
lar in character and the same treatment is found 
efficacious. The remedy is sulphur, and when 
properly and promptly applied, it, (even in the 
great mildew year of 1865,) checks the progress 
of the destroyer. In July last we gave a figure 
of a bellows for applying sulphur; a very con¬ 
venient apparatus, and one which should be 
kept by the horticultural wareh ouses. Last year 
this bellows was difficult to procure, and many 
were the complaints of those who lost their 
grapes for the lack of it. All that is needed is 
a contrivance that will throw sulphur dust, and 
other expedients may be made use of, or a com¬ 
mon bellows may be modified so as to serve. 
The vines should be dusted on both surfaces of 
the leaves on the very first appearance of the 
pest, and we call attention to the matter thus 
early that all may be prepared with proper 
arms and ammunition before the enemy appears. 
A writer in the English Journal of Horticul¬ 
ture, recommends the use of sulphur in the 
form of Sulphide of Calcium. This is not new, 
but it has long been in use in this country. We 
give his directions for preparing it: 
“One pound of quick lime and one 
pound of flowers of sulphur are well 
mixed together in one gallon of water, 
boiled about half an hour, and stirred 
at intervals while boiling. When it is 
quite cold, the clear liquid is poured 
into bottles, and in this state kept for 
use. About a quarter of a pint of the 
liquid to four gallons of water, and 
stirred until the whole becomes of a 
pale yellow, I have generally found 
sufficiently strong for use, but half as 
strong again will do no harm.” This 
preparation is used on vines by means 
of a syringe, and is found efficacious 
in destroying both mildew and red 
spider. Another method is to take 
twice as much lime as sulphur, put 
them together in a barrel and slake the 
lime with hot water. After the mix¬ 
ture is cool, add water, in the propor¬ 
tion of twelve gallons to each pound 
of sulphirr employed. This is less 
trouble, but it does not ensure so com¬ 
plete a solution of the sulphur as in the 
process given above. Much of the effi¬ 
ciency of either dry sulphur or the so¬ 
lution, depends upon faithfully apply¬ 
ing it upon the very first appearance of 
the mildew, and arresting its progress 
before any material damage is done. 
The Garden uses of Ivy. 
By Ivy, of course we mean true Ivy 
—Hedera helix —which in its different 
varieties is known as English, Scotch, 
Irish, and several other Ivies; and none 
of the native plants that arc popularly 
BO called. The different kinds of Ivy 
present great diversity in the size and 
shape of the leaf, and there are some 
in which the dark green is beautifully 
marked with white and yellow. It 
endures almost every treatment, except 
exposure to a burning sun, and though 
it is not as a climber very suitable where 
the winter is much more severe than 
that of New York City, it can in much 
colder places be grown low and made to 
serve a useful purpose. Wherever it will flour¬ 
ish there is nothing more beautiful as a climber 
to cover stone or brick buildings than Ivy ; it 
makes a dense sheet of evergreen foliage that 
no other plant can equal, and it clings by means 
of its abundant rootlets with a tenacity that is 
remarkable. Growing upon buildings, stone 
walls, and the like, it serves an excellent pur¬ 
pose, but there are other uses to which it can be 
put, and though every one may not have a stone 
house, or live in a suitable climate, yet all can 
have plenty of Ivy. When grown prostrate 
irpon the ground, it forms a dense mat of dark 
verdure, and is useful to clothe shady spots 
where grass will not flourish. Grown in this 
way nothing can be more beautiful in cemetery 
decorations, and a grave may be covered by it 
with a mantle that is always green. Trained 
along the margins of borders it makes a most 
