200 
The only plants I have ever known to resist it are resinous pines 
and roses; the former suffer at first and the leaves turn yellow, but 
they ultimately recover, and I never knew one to succumb, whereas 
the contrary is the case with all other plants attacked. 
In hedges of white thorn where roses have been planted at intervals, 
the thorns are killed and the roses remain intact and quite uninjured. 
In an orchard it will appear in patches, killing the fern and sorrel and 
spreading until it reaches a fruit tree; it then attacks the bark round 
the stem just under the ground, which speedily rots, presenting the ap¬ 
pearance of having been cooked, and has an offensive smell; it then 
proceeds along the roots and the tree soon shows withered leaves, which 
drop off, leaving it bare, and by and by it falls over and lies on the 
ground. Its movements are uncertain; sometimes a tree here and there 
dies; sometimes a whole row and very often acres are swept off. Many 
entire orchards of fine trees are killed in a few years. This fungus 
is never found in clay or other damp soils, but always in dry friable 
lauds. Professor Kirk of Wellington says it is Ly coper don gemmatum , 
Batsch., and that “tar water” is a certain cure. The last statement 
is assuredly an error, and I think the first is also. For a great many 
years I have endeavored in vain to procure the fruit of this fungus, 
using all the means that suggested themselves to me, without any 
success. I have seen large quantities of the L. gemmatum growing in 
orchards where there is no root fungus, and I have seen a very great 
many orchards and watched several closely where hundreds of trees 
are attacked and could never find the mycelium connected with the 
Lycoperdon. 
The pest is most plentiful on the skirts of the primeval forests and 
on fern lands adjoining where no cultivation has ever been resorted to. 
Whole crops of potatoes are destroyed on such lands, and on dry lands 
where native tree stumps remain it is very prevalent. My own opinion is 
that it is a fungus native to and probably peculiar to New Zealand (in 
the North Island only). All my experiments with sulphur and lime have 
failed. Kerosene-oil used in winter has alone been of any use, and that 
has been used pure in winter without killing the tree. The fungi of 
New Zealand are legion and very destructive, but this is the worst, and 
particularly as it is confined to dry soils. Where I am now writing 500 
trees have been killed within the last two years, and all remedies tried 
have failed. The apple-scab, the shot-hole fungus, the oidium of the 
vine are terrible pests in New Zealand, and the settlers have more to 
to fear from fungous growths than insect pests. 
Atjkland, New Zealand. 
